The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk

The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk Ewa Jaworska University of Gdańsk Department of Spatial Management ul. Bażyńskiego 1 A, 80–952 Gdańsk, Poland & High School No. 3 ul. Topolowa 7, 80–255 Gdańsk, Poland [email protected] Abstract Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Vistula River, which has highly contributed to the development of Gdańsk. With no doubt, the city would not have reached such a high level of advancement without the Vistula River, which has dictated the level of prosperity of the city for many centuries. There comes up the question: to what extent is the Vistula River responsible for the development of Gdańsk, as there are also other assets that could have impact on many aspects of the changes? To answer this question, the project “The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk” was prepared in November 2014. This article shows the main ideas of this project made by 28 bilingual students of High School No. 3 in Gdańsk. Their individual research and group work in the field are a good occasion to observe cognitive activities of the students. Some reflections of the supervisor of this project related to these activities are included in this work. Keywords: project, fieldwork investigation, cognitive activities of students, the Vistula River, Gdańsk. Introduction The Vistula River has played a significant role in the development of Gdańsk for over 1000 years. One of the main reasons why Gdańsk was founded in 997 in this particular location is the proximity of a waterway. The situation in the delta and by the Baltic Sea gives the city a unique advantage. The Dead Vistula (Martwa Wisła) and its tributary – the Motława River – have shaped the city’s history, infrastructure and ways of development the most, as well as influenced the way it looks today. The Vistula River has triggered the trade expansion of Gdańsk, a well-known centre for the shipping of products produced along the river. Its impact on economy of the city and many other aspects of life became the major goal of the geographical project in bilingual class of 28 students attending High School No. 3 in Gdańsk. 63 Ewa Jaworska The project titled “The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk” was divided into two parts. The first stage was the individual research by students of the third class. In November 2014 students were responsible for data collection related to the topic and the preparation of individual reports. Types of information for collection should be: • primary information that comes from the student’s own observations and measurements collected in the field • secondary information, which involves gathering information from sources that have already been compiled in written, statistical or mapped forms. The second part of the project had a complementary role and was connected with the fieldwork investigation in the Old Town, in the neighborhood of the Motława. Students had some tasks to do in the field presented in the other part of this work. The main aim of this article is to present some conclusions related to the cognitive activities of bilingual students studying the local urban environment. This local environment is the educational space that allows students to do numerous activities. As the result of individual research and work in the field students are expected to: • present their personal, informal knowledge, a way of thinking • demonstrate knowledge and understanding of specified content • demonstrate analysis, synthesis and evaluation • select, use and apply a variety of skills and techniques • enrich the English vocabulary while doing the project • find the correlation between Geography and other scientific disciplines. The summary of the results of the research, an analysis of reports, observations of the brainstorm during the initial stage of the project are all helpful when describing reflections relating to its values and the difficulties encountered by the students. The role of local environment in practice A student experiencing the local world by doing research “builds” their own mental geographical world. Fieldwork and other projects are excellent opportunities to reflect on the cognitive activities of the students using their local environment. It allows teachers to: • examine their reactions • see how students argue, talk and work • check how students look at the space around them • observe the way in which the content is presented • see how the geographical knowledge is created by students, how students use a personal knowledge in the scientific research. All students can focus on different aspects of a given issue and have a different perspective of looking at their local environment. The complementary character of Geography and History can also be seen as a possibility of supplementing the content related to the topic. 64 The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk J. Angiel (2007) points out that integration of knowledge of different subjects and various other sources of knowledge occurs during the fieldwork. There is also a chance for positive verification of students’ knowledge and increasing awareness of the importance of geographical knowledge in practice. It is also important to analyse the tools of cognition/learning that activate Ss to do research. Sources of knowledge about the local environments can be divided into: • personal experience, knowledge, and observations • traveling, visiting new places in own city • stories of family members and friends • Internet and press • the use of examples and case studies during the course of Geography and History • the scientific literature, textbooks. All these sources of knowledge should help individual students to narrow the area of research to a specific place strongly influenced by the Vistula River. As the area of a group research during doing fieldwork the students decided to visit the Old Town along the Motława River. The island Ołowianka is a good place to observe the waterfront of Długie Pobrzeże. On the other hand, Długie Pobrzeże gives a lot of possibilities to collect different type of data. Fieldwork in the Old Town – tasks Task 1 The map in Figure 1 shows the hydrographic system in Gdańsk. Match the names of the hydrographic elements to the correct numbers associated with the Vistula River system. Martwa Wisła, Strzyża, Motława, Wisła Śmiała, Wisła Przekop, Kanał Raduni, Radunia 1–........................ 2–........................ 3–........................ Bay of G dań sk 4–........................ 5–........................ 6–........................ 7–........................ Figure 1. The hydrographic system within the boundaries of Gdańsk. Source: http://www.encyklopediagdanska.pl/index.php?title=WODY (authors of the map: RB, Z. Krajewska) 65 Ewa Jaworska Task 2 You are looking at Długie Pobrzeże, then look at the picture in Figure 2. Figure 2. The waterfront in the Old Town in Gdańsk around 1900 AD. Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danzig_Partie_am_Krahnthor_%2818 90-1900%29.jpg The picture presents the waterfront in the Old Town in Gdańsk around 1900 AD. Looking at the present situation find similarities and differences between how it looks today and how it looked in the past. Task 3 In the empty circles on the map (Figure 4) write digits (1-4) that symbolise the place from which a given photo was taken (Figure 3). Then draw arrows showing directions from which these photos were taken on this map. Figure 3. The Old Town photos of chosen sites. Photos by Ewa Jaworska 66 The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk Figure 4. The fragment of the Old Town presented on the map. Source: www.targeo.pl 67 Ewa Jaworska Task 4 Name the objects presented in four pictures that are marked by arrows in Task 2. Then specify their functions. No. of the picture 1 Name of the object Functions .............................. .............................. .............................. .............................. 2 .............................. .............................. .............................. .............................. 3 .............................. .............................. .............................. .............................. 4 .............................. .............................. .............................. .............................. Task 5 The following picture (Figure 5) shows the replica of galleon that takes cruises from Rybackie Pobrzeże. A. Define what a galleon is. B. Name a destination of cruises taken by the galleon “Czarna Perła”. C. Name two rivers along which these cruises are organised. D. Ask the organisers of cruises about three industrial facilities that can be seen during such cruises. Figure 5. The galleon “Czarna Perła”. Photo by Ewa Jaworska 68 The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk Task 5 Walking along the waterfront from Green Gate to Swan Tower, count and write down the number of services and plot their names on the map of Długie Pobrzeże (from Task 3). Then make their simple classification (e.g. shops, gastronomy, accommodation, etc.). What type of services are the most common in this part of the Old Town? Explain the reasons for the dominance of these services. Choice of fieldwork investigation and the cognitive activities of bilingual students The ‘wisdom’ of students is the result of deep personal reflection. It is interesting to observe the way of thinking of students during the choice of topic. The title of this project was the result of a brainstorm. The students were informed that almost all areas of the Polish curriculum lend themselves to deeper analysis and investigation. What is more, it is important to note that there is a requirement to focus on a narrow area of research in depth and that the report must have a spatial component. There was the suggestion to use the research question which can not be too broad. The global nature of the topics means that they are not always suitable for research. Analysing the ideas of students it can be noted that: • their proposals are connected with very general topics, with a broad spectrum of issues that do not give opportunities to deep analysis • many concepts are immature from the scientific point of view • there was a tendency to suggest research with the use of Internet as a main source of data • all suggestions were related to places well known by students, and thus to the local environment; they resulted from their earlier observations of this environment (often unaware) and interest in surroundings. As the final result of a brainstorm, the topic of the project was quite broad “The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk”. Students decided to narrow the topic indivudually in their reports. All of them agreed that fieldwork should be done close to the Motława River as the mosts interesting place of Gdańsk strongly infuenced by the location on the riverbanks. The role of the Vistula River in developent of Gdańsk described by the students All students stress the importance of the Vistula River in the development of Gdańsk. There was the sentence written by the student that the city may be considered as ‘the gift of the Vistula’. However, all reports show different aspects 69 Ewa Jaworska of this development during the long history. The impact of the Vistula River can have different scales and it is why all answers of the students can be divided into some categories. 90% of students concentrated on its influence on the economy by improvement of trade and transport thanks to the fact that the river was ‘the Polish road to the sea’. Although, it is not as significant as it used to be in the past. As Gdańsk has changed over the years, so has the role of the river, adjusting to the demands of the modern world. Gdańsk was the port where a variety of products such as grain, timber, salt, leather, building stones, jerky and smoked meat was loaded. The export of grain played the most important role. Contacts with other traders from Poland and many European countries like Holland, England, Sweden, Germany, France and even from Spain were the reason of prosperity of Gdańsk in the past. Most historical descriptions and photos are based on M. Szypowska, A. Szypowski (1978), E. Cieślak (1993, 1998), W. Kuczkowski (2008). Students have a lot of general descriptions of the character of this trade and only some of them try to specify different stages of the economic development based on trade refering to historical sources. Only 10 students wrote about the impact of the Motława River and the Dead Vistula on development of the industry and the construction of the port where local people can find a job. 60% reports mentioned that the Vistula River has affected the city’s infrastructure and its form. Thanks to it Gdańsk has some characteristic buildings and symbols. Most students show pictures of the Crane and granaries on the Spichrzów Island and add historical discriptions of these symbols. Some of them have the discription of mills. Nine students used intereresting legends and stories based on three books of J. Samp (2000, 2003, 2005) related mainly to areas and particular buildings close to the Motława River. Some newer facts and stories were taken from G. Fortuna, D. Tusk (1999). 55% of students pay attention on the present role of the Motława River focused mostly on tourism, recreation and sport. Many tourists who come to Gdańsk can take advantage of the ship cruises and sightseeing from the water. Some local water transport is also involved. Many canoeing clubs have come to existence in past decades. More and more hotels, hostels, restaurants, amber shops and other services located along the river are the source of income of local people. Many events in summer seasons encourage tourists to visit Gdańsk. 70 The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk Only two students showed that the Vistula River has created many beautiful landscapes on the Sobieszewo Island and that it has a crucial role in the biodiversity of ecosystem. It is impossible to add detailed discriptions of all the functions of the Vistula River but the project gave a lot of opportunities to collect interesting data related to the past and the presence. Reflections related to difficulties encountered by the students studying local urban environment Not all steps of the project were easy for the students. It is worth to sum up the main difficulties experienced during data collection and their presentation in the form of reports. 1. Students expect ready suggestions and solutions from the teacher. Their uncertainty of personal knowledge and waiting for the last word of a teacher reflect on the impact of early education in Polish schools, dominated by the authoritative instructions of adults. 2. Despite discussing the methodology of data collection there was a problem of unreliability and incompleteness of the data collected by individuals, so some areas and important issues have not been thoroughly explored. Most people initially did not pay attention to the places strongly influenced by the Vistula River, located at further distances from the Old Town. It means that most students concentrated on the impact of the Motława River on the development of Gdańsk. 3. Despite the fact that a supervisor suggested that secondary information may supplement primary information but must only play a small part in the investigation, there is the dominance of secondary information. According to the students, collection of primary data needs more effort. 4. Only very few reports have the research question and research studies focused on this question. 5. Students rarely use scientific books. They prefer the Internet. Most of them download raw maps and photos without a high level of processing. 6. Some students do not respect copyright and are surprised that they have an obligation to add a source to copied information. Many of them are not aware of this fact or do not know how to refer to copied information. 7. There are some problems with correct titles of figures. Students often give the names of methods or sources as the titles, not the presented issues. 8. Layout and content of the raw versions of research reports remind two separate, unrelated parts. 71 Ewa Jaworska 9. Many bibliographic references are incomplete, based mainly on web pages. 10. Many doubts of the students were related to the choice of methods of data presentation. Theoretical knowledge of cartographic methods was not always sufficient for its practical use in illustrating the presented phenomena and processes. Students were reluctant to use statistical methods considering them as unrelated to geography. In turn, encouraged to use them, they found cross-correlation knowledge and had satisfaction with the use of statistical methods in geography. 11. Some students complained about the necessity of writing a report in English. However, they showed satisfaction in the case of a positive final result. They also were pleased with their vocabulary enrichment. There are a lot of linguistic mistakes in reports what shows the diversity of levels of linguistic skills among bilingual students in the same class. 12. Permission to collect data in a convenient time resulted in different terms of preparing the reports. Most students started the project some days before the deadline. It resulted in low quality of many reports. A. Głowacz (2009) lists some more similar problems encountered throughout the realization of the project of students from High School No. 4 in Łodź despite the fact that their topic is different: students do not understand the difference between a descriptive and analytical style of writing, they do not know what topic could be interesting and suitable for the research, students lack of the abilities to correlate sets of data, difficulty in translating from Polish into English, students repeat the information presented in graphical forms in the text without deeper analysis. The study of local urban environment and the cognitive activities of bilingual students – conclusions The project ‘The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk’ made by 28 bilingual students gave a lot of possibilities to observe their cognitive activities. Despite many difficulties encountered by the students studying local urban environment, the gaining of knowledge about the local environment stimulated students’ cognitive activities. It was evident in their commitments and curiosity when achieving the objectives. Research in the local area forces students to observe the environment and arouse reflections on issues and problems related to the local environment. Perception of the studied area has not changed significantly by the students. However, they emphasize the importance of research for better knowledge of the area and draw 72 The role of the Vistula River in development of Gdańsk attention to the processes and phenomena that had not been perceived before. The local area became “closer” and more attractive. The students are interested in a presentation of their own opinions based on personal observations and experience. Personal knowledge helped many students in a scientific analysis, wise geographical synthesis/conclusions/evaluation, and writing relatively professional reports. A large number of applied cartographic and statistical methods in some ambitious reports demonstrates not only the hard work of students, but that they noticed the sense of their practical application for further analysis. The added value of the project was the improvement of linguistic skills. The students were forced to read English materials and use English in all stages of the research. The project gave an opportunity to find a strong relationship between History and Geography, as these sciences represent two fundamental dimensions of the same phenomena. History perceives them from the perspective of time, while Geography from the perspective of space. References 1. Angiel A., 2007. Lekcje w terenie. Skuteczna forma kształcenia geograficznego, Geografia w Szkole, No. 4. 2. Cieślak E. (ed.), 1998. Historia Gdańska, Vol. 4, Wydawnictwo Lex, Sopot. 3. Cieślak E. (ed.), 1993. Historia Gdańska, Vol. 3, Instytut Historii PAN, Zakład Historii Gdańska i Dziejów Morskich Polski, Gdańsk. 4. Fortuna G., Tusk D., 1999. Wydarzyło się w Gdańsku 1901-2000: jeden wiek w jednym mieście, Wydawnictwo Millennium Media, Gdańsk. 5. Głowacz A., 2009. Research project in an International Baccalaureate World School, [in:] Charzyński P., Donert K., Podgórski Z. (eds.), Geography bilingual teaching – practical issues, Association of Polish Adult Educators in Toruń, Toruń. 6. Kuczkowski W., 2008. Przewodnik Wisła. Monografia turystyczno-krajoznawcza, Wydawnictwo Krajowego Zarządu Gospodarki Wodnej, Warszawa. 7. Samp J., 2000. Miasto czterdziestu bram, Wydawnictwo Marpress, Gdańsk. 8. Samp J., 2003. Miasto magicznych przestrzeni, Wydawnictwo Marpress, Gdańsk. 9. Samp J., 2005. Miasto tysiąca tajemnic, Wydawnictwo Marpress, Gdańsk. 10. Szypowska M., Szypowski A., 1978. Gdańsk, Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka, Warszawa. 73 Ewa Jaworska Useful links: ■ http://www.encyklopediagdanska.pl/index.php?title=WODY (authors of the map: RB, Z. Krajewska) ■ http://www.targeo.pl ■ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Danzig_Partie_am_Krahnthor_ %281890-1900%29.jpg 74