Geography preservice teachers’ disposition toward teaching spatial thinking through geography: a comparison between China and Korea

Abstract

ABSTRACTAlthough geography education researchers in both China and Korea acknowledge that the education of spatial thinking and the development of teachers’ dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking are important, very few studies are available on the topic. This article examines the dispositions of Chinese and Korean geography preservice teachers’ dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking through geography, and it identifies the similarities and differences between the two countries. A survey was conducted with 979 Chinese and 323 Korean geography preservice teachers using the Teaching Spatial Thinking through Geography Disposition Inventory. Overall, both Chinese and Korean preservice teachers showed low-to-moderate dispositions toward teaching spatial thinking in their future classrooms. Chinese participants exhibited more positive dispositions in all five subcategories of the disposition inventory than did their Korean counterparts. Participants from both countries expressed low confidence in utilizing geospatial technologies. No specific score differences were observed by gender, grade level, and overall geography course experiences. The results reveal the current conditions of spatial thinking education in China and Korea and will help to establish strategies for successful spatial thinking education in geography in the future.