Geography Teaching and the New Technologies: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Technology has revolutionized geography as a profession and has had a significant impact on the teaching of the subject in K–12 and higher education. Geographic Information Systems (CIS) have transformed the work of professional geographers and university geography faculty. GIS is also a powerful technology for geography teachers at the pre-college level. With this new tool, students can engage in serious inquiry about issues of local and global significance using authentic data. Current research findings about GIS in schools are summarized, along with exemplary GIS projects. Realizing the potential of GIS in the classroom will require new efforts to prepare elementary and secondary geography teachers.

Developing trainee teacher practice with geographical information systems (GIS)

“…GIS has been used within higher education (HE) contexts almost since its inception; however, its use in secondary schools did not start until the early 1990s (Kerski et al, 2013) when it began, particularly in the US, to be considered a tool which had the potential to develop students' engagement with technology (Goodchild & Kemp, 1990;Lemberg & Stoltman, 2001). Kerski et al (2013) argue that the rapid increase in GIS use in some global secondary school contexts since then is due mainly to the perceived benefits it provides.…”

Evaluating the Implementation and Effectiveness of GIS-Based Application in Secondary School Geography Lessons

“…At the beginning of 1990s, GIS was increasingly seen as an essential element which could introduce secondary school students to the use of technology, and spur them to be motivated in careers in science and engineering [5] . The interest in this area has increased at the secondary school level after many other studies revealed that GIS is an educational tool rather than a technology and contributes to creating an inquiry based learning environment [6,7,8,9,10,11] . Due to these pedagogical advantages, GIS has found a place in secondary school curriculums in diverse programs including Science, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, Environmental and Social Sciences along with Geography in the USA, Canada, and Europe [10,12,13,14,15] .…”

“…The aim of "Teaching about GIS" is mainly to teach GIS technologies. The overall opinion among the educators about the type of the use of GIS in geographic education focuses on "Teaching with GIS" [9,12,14] . Nonetheless, Johansson [19] has mentioned that it is necessary to revert to the 'Teaching about GIS' to some extent before using GIS in classroom.…”

“…This book contains lessons in the theory and practice of GIS along with student handouts, assessments, and a one-year site license of ArcView 3.x for middle and high school geography students. The benefits of GIS-based applications for increasing student's interest in computer technology and geography lessons have been widely acknowledged in several studies [8,9,14,15] . However its overall effects on students' skill development and learning at geography lessons have not been documented sufficiently.…”

Do Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Move High School Geography Education Forward in Turkey? A Teacher's Perspective

“…Numerous studies done on GIS in education in the international context indicated that in addition to increasing student and teacher motivation, GIS are very effective tools for incorporating project-based teaching and learning, and promoting students' geographic skills such as thinking geographically, analyzing and synthesizing spatial data, map reading and interpreting (Tinker, 1992;Geography Education Standards Project [GESP], 1994;Palladino, 1994;Audet & Abegg, 1996;Lemberg & Stoltman, 1999;Pottle, 2001;Shin, 2006). Tinker (1992), Palladino (1994), and Audit & Abegg (1996), who were the leading academicians, conducted the first research on education with GIS and underlined the positive relationships between education with GIS and the development of spatial skills of the students.…”