Joop van der Schee

Learning geography by combining fieldwork with GIS

Geographic information systems (GIS) offer many possibilities for supporting student research projects. This paper deals with the results of the first phase of a design study on student research projects that combine (quantitative) data collection in the field with data visualisation, manipulation and analysis in GIS. In this study, we try to identify the characteristics of a successful design. In the first phase of the study, four student research projects that combine fieldwork with GIS were designed and tested. The design and test rounds were primarily focused at identifying the characteristics of feasible and potentially rich student research projects. On the basis of the design and test rounds, we identified five features of feasible student research projects that combine fieldwork with GIS.

Enquiry-driven fieldwork as a rich and powerful teaching strategy – school practices in secondary geography education in the Netherlands

Given its active and enquiry-driven character, fieldwork is seen as an important way to develop geographical understanding of the world, during which cognitive and affective learning reinforce each other. The present study aims to give insight into whether and how secondary school geography teachers in the Netherlands succeed in using fieldwork as a rich and powerful teaching strategy. Do they perform fieldwork that is enquiry driven, structurally integrated in the curriculum and stimulates both cognitive and affective development? The results of a questionnaire show that although 71% of the geography teachers do fieldwork, they generally do not succeed in meeting the conditions mentioned above.

Effects of the Use of Thinking Through Geography Strategies

Expressing the desire that geography should be a more challenging subject that helps pupils to become better learners a group of academic geographers and geography teachers from northeast England developed teaching strategies to stimulate pupils to think through geography. Teachers in England and the Netherlands report that these strategies are very successful because they make pupils think and generate motivation. This contribution focuses on an experiment in three Dutch lower secondary school classes. Thinking Through Geography strategies were tested in a pre-test and post-test control group design. All the students worked enthusiastically with the strategies, but there were big differences in the results between the schools. One of the key factors seems to be the role of the teacher. Although Thinking Through Geography strategies may be challenging for teachers and students, much greater attention needs to be given to the type of support that is required to make the change lasting and deep rather than superficial.

Geospatial Technologies and Geography Education in a Changing World: Geospatial Practices and Lessons Learned

This book is an initiative presented by the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union. It focuses particularly on what has been learned from geospatial projects and research from the past decades of implementing geospatial technologies (GST) in formal and informal education. The objective of this publication is to inform an international audience of teachers, professionals, scholars, and policymakers about the state of the art and prospects of geospatial practices (GPs) as organized activities that use GST and lessons learned in relation to geographical education. GST make up an advanced body of knowledge developed by practitioners of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), global positioning systems, (GPS), and digital cartography (DC). GST have long been applied in many different sectors; however, their first use in higher education began in the early 1980s and then diffused to secondary schools during the 1990s. Starting with GIS and RS, it evolved into a much broader context, as GST expanded to include GPS and DC with new communication technologies and Internet applications. GST have been used around the world as a combination of tools and special techniques to make research, teaching, and learning more effective.

Coaching Students in Research Skills: a Difficult Task for Teachers

SUMMARY The new Dutch curriculum for the upper levels of secondary education requires students to use research skills. Students have to conduct a number of small research projects, culminating in the writing of a research paper as a formal part of the new examinations. Although the literature offers abundant advice on how to write a good research paper, comparatively little research seems to have been done on this subject as it relates to the classroom. This article describes some results of a study which examines the problems encountered by students when carrying out research projects and which looks into the difficulties teachers face when coaching students in research skills. These obstacles are particularly apparent in the initial stages of the research process. Problem finding is revealed to be an underdeveloped skill in education. Although teachers score much better than students on a test of research skills, finding an effective way to channel these superior skills into coaching methods that benefit students remains problematic. It is evident that procedural knowledge cannot be seen separately from declarative knowledge. Working together in interdisciplinary teams might help teachers overcome some of these problems.

Primary teacher educators' perception of desired and achieved pedagogical content knowledge in geography education in primary teacher training

This paper presents the findings of a study conducted among primary geography teacher educators. The research examines the perceptions of educators of primary teacher students’ desired and achieved levels of substantial knowledge, syntactic knowledge, and beliefs about the subject of geography. The findings indicate that primary teacher educators do not view their students as having significant knowledge about geography. They believe their students have better syntactic knowledge and beliefs about the subject of geography, however. Teacher educators believe that more hours of teaching and more attention to subject knowledge could raise the quality of primary teacher training in geography.

The adoption of Thinking Through Geography Strategies and their impact on teaching geographical reasoning in Dutch secondary schools

The development of geographical reasoning is essential in geographical education. Strategies developed by the English Thinking Through Geography group (TTG) offer a promising approach to promote geographical reasoning. In the last decade, the TTG approach has become a regular element in geographical education in several countries. Research suggests that teachers acquainted with TTG do not always take full advantage of the possibilities of these strategies. The adoption of the TTG approach is explored ten years after its introduction in the Netherlands. Findings are presented of a survey conducted among Dutch geography teachers (N = 307) about the significance they assign to geographical reasoning and their use of TTG assignments. The results suggest that teachers use TTG selectively and adapt TTG assignments to fit them into existing practices and beliefs about students and teaching geography.

Multimedia tests and geographical education: the 2008 International Geography Olympiad

Although there is a widespread interest in testing in geography, very few empirical studies exist of internationally validated testing models. Arguably the best international geography test in secondary education is found in the International Geography Olympiad, and this test is the focus of this paper. Apart from a written response test and fieldwork assignments, the International Geography Olympiad includes a multimedia test. This paper analyzes the results of the multimedia test of the 2008 International Geography Olympiad. Although the validity of the test is good, the performance of students on individual questions is open to a variety of interpretations. Tests such as the multimedia test can be used to assess the geographical literacy of students in the upper levels of secondary education, and this point is extended in the final section of the paper that promotes international benchmarking and improvements to the testing protocol.

Learning to teach geography for primary education: results of an experimental programme

Abstract Students training to become primary school teachers appear to have little awareness of the core concepts of geography (teaching). To ensure that future primary school teachers are able to develop their pupils’ geographical awareness, a six weeks programme was developed. The characteristics of this programme – named Consciously Teaching Geography (CTG) – are: principles of good geography teaching, conjunction and a recurrent structure during training, modelling and reflection. In a quasi-experimental research design the question is answered what the effects are of CTG on the development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for the subject of geography of first year primary student teachers. The results indicated that the programme has a positive effect on the domain-specific PCK development in the short term.

Some thoughts about a new international geography test

An important question for geography teachers all over the world is how to define, stimulate and test geographic literacy. Although modern technology is no guarantee of quality, it offers new possibilities for teaching and testing, as can be seen in contemporary geography learning/teaching units using digital maps and interactive tests. Tests such as the International Geography Olympiad and the Dutch GEA test for geographic literacy are starting points for an international discussion about the quality of geography teaching and for the development of a new international geography test.