Transformative Research in Geography Education: The Role of a Research Coordination Network

Abstract

This article considers the concept and significance of transformative research in the context of geography education. It provides an overview of how the capacity-building activities and management operations of a research coordination network (RCN) are designed to support broad-scale advances in geography education theory, methods, and practice. Vignettes of RCN activities are presented as examples of pathways toward transformative research in the areas of geography learning progressions, assessments of spatial thinking, and geospatially enabled project-based learning. Beyond the prospect of introducing new paradigms of learning and using research findings to inform and systematically change approaches to teacher education and curriculum development, an RCN offers an opportunity to plan broad-based strategy and develop leadership needed to address many long-standing challenges that have undermined the quality and quantity of geography education research. These challenges include the low visibility of geography education research relative to other geographic subdomains, the difficulty of carrying out interdisciplinary and international research collaborations, low rates of transfer and uptake of research findings in practitioner communities and in policymaking, and the erosion of graduate-level programs that prepare students to plan and design conceptually rigorous educational research in geography.