Since philosophical turns such as the spatial turn etc., geography has been dealing more intensively with the subjective per-ception and construction of space. Video games, and especially the vast digital spaces therein, are developed by teams of programmers, developers, and designers who make creative spatial construction decisions based on different worldviews, experiences, values, and skills. These processes result in a specific intended spatial experience for players to traverse. How-ever, these players also approach the games with certain worldviews, prior experiences, values, etc., and the question arises to what extent spatial experiences can be intentionally passed through and what consequences the perception has for the (young) players we address with geography instruction. Thus, there is undoubtedly communication be-tween both sides about digital space in video games. Furthermore, the question arises what role the creation of digital spaces in the games plays for the experience, understanding and reception of real analog spaces as well as for the further competences of stu-dents like, exemplary, in the field of sustainability or decision reflections. Thus, it cannot be dismissed that an engagement with video games should play a stronger role in the context of addressing the reflection of spatial perceptions and construc-tions in geography education. Yet, they are still largely underrepresented in studies of geography education and many stud-ies lack sufficient empirical proof and orientation for teacher professionalization. In the paper, results from the research pro-ject "Gaming & Geography" will be presented, which attempts to create further legitimizing foundations for the integration of video games as a medium in the didactic discourse of geography via a mixed method a-proach and transfer services for teachers. Based on the research in the project, a model for reflexive analysis of digital space and action in video games will also be presented, which should facilitate a stronger and more serious didactic integration of video games in geographic education. The results of the study provide a significant contribution to take the medium of video games as a geographical medium more seriously and the study provides further establishment measures to use the presented model didactically, be-cause they show that students actively engage in geographic contexts in games, they reflect on the contexts presented and the experts encourage the necessity of the presented model.
This article discusses possible challenges and potentials in the use of digital geomedia in the context of written and oral argumentation in higher education by examining the perspectives of students and lecturers, especially for the subjects of geography in general and primary school science. To this end, potentials and challenges, as well as competences that have to be promoted among pupils and students in dealing with digital geomedia in the context of written and oral argumentation are first discussed. In the following, we present the results of a mixed methods approach in which we surveyed student teachers with a questionnaire (n = 150) on the one hand and, on the other hand, reflected their view of the issue by analysing qualitative expert interviews (n = 17) with lecturers who teach at the same universities in the corresponding degree programmes. In this way we contextualise the student’s self-assessment in the respective location’s teacher training. Our results show that there is a high degree of commonality between lecturers and students with regard to the importance of argumentation with digital geomedia. At the same time, the assessment of the students’ abilities differs greatly; most students feel capable of dealing with these topics, while lecturers see deficits here.
The DiGeo project links teacher training in geography education to digital postsecondary education. It aims to explore development and transferability of digital disciplinary concepts of critical geomedia use in the classroom. To reach this goal, a suite of open educational resources (OER) were designed that may be used in both initial and in-service teacher training. This contribution presents these resources.
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