By 1600 Japan was divided into several hundred feudal domains ruled by lords who competed for local power. In 1603 the Tokugawa house rose to the status of shogunate and unified the country under military dominion. This changed in 1867 when Mutsuhito became Japanese emperor and transformed Japan from a closed feudal society to a world power. Primary sources of information, especially the result of fieldwork performed by students, are important in geographic inquiry. Fieldwork involves students conducting research in the community by distributing questionnaires, taking photographs, recording observations, interviewing citizens, and collecting samples.
Fieldwork can arouse student interest and can make geography more relevant.
It fosters active learning by enabling students to observe, ask questions, identify problems, and hone their perceptions of physical features and human activities. Fieldwork connects students' school activities with the world in which they live. The Great Awakening occurred in the 1730s and 1740s in response to inflexible Puritan doctrine. A lay ministry developed which preached personal salvation by good works in contrast to predestination as preached by Puritans. Others, led by Jonathan Edwards, urged believers to develop a personal relationship with God to gain their personal salvation.