How Can A GIS Application Develop Geographical Skills of Students: The Case Dashboards

Abstract

Geography is the user guide to the world. Thanks to geography, people should be able to perform all kinds of activities in their daily lives more efficiently and use geography in their future planning. However, for this, geographical knowledge should not be memorized; instead, it should be transformed into geographical skills. Geography teachers have a great duty in this regard. To develop geographical skills for students is a multidimensional process. Considering the expectations of today's students, one of the most appropriate tools that can be used in teaching these skills to students is dashboards, a technology based on geographic information systems. Dashboards can transform geographical information into maps, graphics, indicators, and lists thanks to their superior features, thus increasing their usability. Geography teachers' designing geography teaching processes using this technology will enable students to develop their geographical skills. However, at this point, it is seen that geography teachers are not sufficiently equipped in this regard, and examples are needed. In this study, it is aimed at explaining how dashboards can be used to teach five basic geographical skills known as asking geographical questions, collecting, organizing and analyzing geographical information, and answering geographical questions to students. In order to achieve this goal, a descriptive literature review, one of the qualitative research methods, was used. In light of the literature review, how dashboards can be used in the acquisition of five basic geographical skills is explained with examples, and suggestions on how dashboards can contribute more to the geography teaching process are given.