Malaysian geography teachers’ knowledge about environmental concepts

Abstract

Abstract This paper is based on a study focused on the geography teachers’ knowledge of environmental concepts. Geography is considered as an ideal discipline to study the environment, as it involves the study of human-environment interaction. The study was conducted in two phases using sequential explanatory mixed-method design. In Phase I (quantitative), a set of the questionnaire was developed and administered to 365 teachers in the state of Kedah, a region north of peninsular Malaysia. Rasch Measurement Model was used to assess internal validity of the items, unidimensionality of each construct, and item arrangement in each scale in the questionnaire. In Phase II (qualitative), interview protocols were developed based on the outcome sequence of items in Phase I. Nine teachers were interviewed and have their teaching sessions video-recorded. The quantitative findings indicated that teachers’ knowledge of concepts of the environment was generally high. However, there were concepts that they highly understood as well as concepts that were less understood. The qualitative results from interview and video-recorded teaching sessions confirmed the results based on the questionnaire, and provide explanations by teachers on their level of knowledge. This study suggests that concerted efforts be made to provide adequate knowledge of environmental education through pre-service and in-service training for geography teachers.