Comparing Geoinformation and Geography Students’ Spatial Thinking Skills with a Human-Geography Pedagogical Approach in a Chinese Context

Abstract

We conducted a standardized spatial thinking ability test (STAT) to examine the spatial thinking abilities of a group of Chinese undergraduates with a focus on their spatial reasoning, which is a very important component of critical spatial thinking. The college subject of human geography in China is often geared toward the preparation of students for government consultancy and policy-making tasks, known as the “tasks leading disciplines” (renwu dai xueke), where the pedagogies are problem-solving based and sustainability centered. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has become the universal tool for problem solving in geography and other areas, thus human geography in this situation gives us a context to test and investigate whether and to what extent GIS implementation is able to improve undergraduate spatial thinking levels. Our comparative analysis reported the marginally significant difference of STAT test scores between GIS application (geoinformation group) and its control group (geography group without GIS training). It was also found that the Chinese students performed the spatial reasoning better in this test than American participants as reported in prior study, displaying their higher spatial cognition in terms of problem solving and Boolean logics. Futhermore, a strong negative correlation was reported between STAT test scores and final exam rank. It is possible that the higher geography education in a context of China may not fully embrace the spatial thinking capacity as the strategic goal. The results can help us to better understand the Oriental and Western gaps in higher geography education. Policy suggestions are given in the conclusion.

An Issue of Scale: The Challenge of Time, Space and Multitude in Sustainability and Geography Education

“…In their example, students compared refugee arrival figures in European countries and lists which elements and what order is required to allow for students to improve their ability to argue, reflect, and promote good judgement. And comparisons, Liu et al [117] argues, can develop students' higher-order spatial thinking skills, in her case using comparisons of geo-information obtained with GIS-systems. This brings us to the benefits of digital tools when learning about scales in geography.…”

Sustainability Education in China: Lessons Learnt from the Teaching of Geography

“…China is no exception. As one of the pioneer countries in advocating environmental protection, the Chinese government has called for a paradigm shift in pedagogies that should be problem-solving-based and sustainability-centered [10].…”

“…SD has also been a focal point in the Swedish geography curriculum [5]. In China, a sustainability-oriented and problem-based pedagogy of geography has been adopted for dealing with SD issues; however, this SDoriented curriculum is considered to be led by government consultancy and policy tasks, so it lacks theoretical and philosophical in essence [10]. It is understood that "teaching SD in geography depends not only on high-quality subject matter knowledge, but also on modern researched pedagogical content knowledge," which implies that "teachers' interpretations and transformations of subject matter knowledge in the context of facilitating student learning" become more important [11] (p. 2).…”

Transformation of Geospatial Technology Knowledge in Pre-service and Experienced Geography Teachers as Pedagogical Tools in the Technological-Pedagogical-Content Knowledge Framework

“…Geospatial Technologies (GST), including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing, and Global Positions System (GPS) is now a universal tool for solving problems geographically and in several scientific disciplines (Liu et al, 2019). Since its introduction, GST has been proven to create geography learning more effectively (García de la Vega, 2019; Verma & Estaville, 2018).…”