Developing a Model of Geography Instructional Materials Based on the Spatial-Ecological Perspectives

Abstract

The availability of instructional materials which present geographic perspectives is very important in resulting more effective learning of geography. It is completed with factual and conceptual knowledge that are functioned not only as informative sources, but also as organized instructional materials spatially and ecologically. The purpose of this research is to develop a model of geographic instructional materials based on the spatial-ecological perspectives. In order to develop the product, the research design used was the modified model of Borg and Gall design (2006). In the design, there were eight steps implemented to develop the product, namely: need analysis, planning, developing preliminary form of product, preliminary field testing, main product revision, implementing field testing, revision of product, and the final product revision. The subjects of the research were students of Senior High School-SMA10 Malang, Indonesia, and the research validator was a doctor of geography education. The data were collected by in-depth interview and questionnaire. In-depth interview was used to collect data from expert validators, while the questioner used to collect data from the students. The data from expert validation were used for the improvement steps of the model of geographic instructional materials based on the Spatial-Ecological perspectives. Meanwhile, the data from the students were used to determine the feasibility of the produced model. The data were analyzed descriptively and statistically. The results of this research were instructional materials developed based on the Eco-Spatial perspectives. There are six steps as a guide in developing the instructional materials. The sixth steps are: (1) determining the topics of discussion, (2) presenting the location of the phenomenon or object that occurs with maps, (3) presenting an argument of why the phenomenon occurred at the location, (4) presenting an explanations of life forms with the phenomena that occur, (5) presenting an explanation of the natural environment (ecosystem) to the phenomena that occur, (6) presenting an explanation of human life to the phenomena that occur. The results of the field testing show that the average score of the six development steps is 86.45%. Therefore, the instructional materials developed based on the Eco-Spatial perspectives were feasible to be used as reference in composing the geographical instructional materials.