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Map skills stand at the core of Geography education. Map reading and map drawing, however, do not enjoy similar attention and consideration in Geography classrooms. Empirical research shows less developed competence models of map drawing as opposed to map reading and an overall map-drawing skill acquisition mainly based on classroom teaching experience. Furthermore, studies showed that teacher training students encounter difficulties when asked to represent geographic space. Drawing upon the theoretical Competence Model of Map Drawing, this paper analyses the symbolic and graphic coding skills of teacher training students. A total of 120 students enrolled in regular (60 persons) and distance education (60 participants) in kindergarten and primary teacher training programs (at the specialisation the Pedagogy of the Primary Grades and of Kindergarten, in Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania) participated in the study and delivered sketch maps based on instructions. Mixed methods served to analyse the representations. The results of the study show that, despite optical presentations resembling maps, most sketch maps actually resemble mental maps, which is proved by rudimentary symbolic coding.

The same way that motivation is responsible for guiding and stimulating people in general and students, in particular, to accomplish their goals and projects, satisfaction ensures the pleasure derived from these activities whether they are needs, wishes or expectations determined by themselves or by living in today's society. The purpose of this paper was twofold: firstly, to determine why students from Faculty of Geography prefer stationary fieldwork over itinerant field trip when it comes to choosing one that fulfills their commitments towards the Bachelor's degree program as part of their professional development that they are aiming at through higher education; and, secondly, to study students' satisfaction level towards the main components of a fieldwork in terms of both learning and social environment. In order to achieve an accurate understanding of the real motivation for this type of field trips and satisfaction with the pedagogical design, not only that students were asked to fill in a questionnaire focused on rating correspondent aspects of their overall experience on a scale of 1-5, but they were also invited to participate at a focus group discussion (FGD) within which additional information emerged. Thus, data collection and analysis methods and procedures involved quantitative methods that were reinforced by qualitative ones supporting all the answers to the questions from the questionnaire with specific examples that were obtained during the FGD, enabling a set of results and conclusions according to which the idea of spending some quality time in valuable interactions with others-either with friends and peers, both in professional and social contexts, or with unknown people (locals, tourists, specialists) willing to interact as well-turned out to be the main force and factor to ensuring successful experiences in the opinion of most participants to the fieldwork.

Development of sustainable tourism is not possible without the support and involvement of the local community. Thus, it would be beneficial to understand how residents perceive tourism development. This study investigates the main factors that influence residents’ support for tourism development in the context of wetland tourism. The study was conducted in one of the most extensive wetland areas in Sri Lanka, situated not far from the capital, Colombo. The main instrument for data collection was a survey applied both to residents living inside the Muthurajawela Wetland and to residents living outside but in the proximity of the wetland. The data collected were subsequently processed, evaluated, and explained using SPSS 26. Besides descriptive statistics, a binomial logistic regression was employed to understand which factors influence residents’ attitudes toward future tourism development. The study found that six factors could predict support for tourism development: gender, age, employment (connected or not to tourism), residence (inside or outside the wetland), interaction with tourists, and satisfaction with the current level of tourism development. The results were then discussed in the context of the extant literature and limitations were acknowledged.