First-year Geography Research Articles

A Geography Teacher’s Approach to Literacy Integration

Emphasis on literacy within middle and high school classrooms is not new; however, there is a shortage of research exploring literacy across disciplines, especially in a geography classroom. Using a holistic case study, we investigated how one first-year geography teacher integrated multiple active literacy strategies within her instruction. Findings indicate that while our participant intended to engage students in participating and acting as geographers, she first needed to support students’ comprehension with graphic organizers, inquiry, and projects. These findings may affirm other educators’ attempts to incorporate literacy within their instruction. They also lead to implications and considerations for teacher education programs.

Anthropogenic emissions or just a lot of hot air? Using air pollution to teach quantitative methods to “mathophobic” first-year geography students

ABSTRACT Debates about how best to support students’ transition from school to university have re-emerged periodically since at least the 1970s. This paper focuses upon one aspect of this transition: how to develop the quantitative skills students acquire at school throughout the first year of their degree. We report on an attempt to inject pedagogic innovation into the teaching of quantitative methods to first-year geography undergraduates at a large Russell Group university in the UK. More specifically, we report on moving to a pedagogic approach of student-centred, inquiry-based learning, which uses quantitative methods to investigate the issue of air pollution. We explore whether “statistical anxiety” is still a common experience of undergraduate geographers and the extent to which pedagogical innovation can help to alleviate this. Although the focus is on UK Geography, the paper has wider relevance to anywhere geographical research methods are taught.

How a First-Year Geography Teacher Adapts Instruction to Respond to Her Students

Adaptive teaching is a pedagogical approach which encourages teachers to adapt their teaching practices to deliver custom learning experiences by addressing students’ individual needs and differences. This article describes how one beginner geography teacher adapted instructional practices to meet her students’ learning needs. First, we provide a brief background of adaptive teaching and its benefits. Using interview data, we then share specific examples of the teacher’s adaptive teaching as well as the challenges she encountered in endeavors to support her students’ learning as she purposefully adapted her teaching practices, materials, and instruction.

Advocating for blended pedagogy as a shift to more holistic inclusive geography

ABSTRACT Applied geography represents the dialectic relationship between theory and application (Pacione 1999, 2004). A well-informed rigorous pedagogy must represent this dialectical relationship (Pacione 1999). How then can the relationship between the theoretical and the applied be challenged within the “spaces” of the university? I provide a critical discussion of the use of a blended learning pedagogy (Davis & Fill 2007) in challenging that there is a separation of theoretical and applied geography. A blended learning pedagogy allows for the inclusion of emerging media and learning technologies as tools in developing a new “space” for teaching and learning, a “space” which is focused on active learning. The walls of the university lecture room become porous, as students begin to make critical connections between theory and application. I unpack the pedagogical justification for a shift to a blended learning approach. I support this justification with evidence from curriculum design in a first-year geography course, and the student experience of implementation of this blended learning approach. I assess student engagement with theory through the integration of real-world case studies into a blended delivery approach. I evaluate their critical engagement by applying a mixed-method approach to a survey and follow-up focus group.

What is Geography? Perceptions of first year undergraduates in South Africa

Disciplines such as Geography are well placed to respond to the changing needs of society and the effective application of geographical knowledge to real-world problems. This project surveyed first year Geography undergraduates’ understanding of “What is Geography?”, both before and after an exercise in which geographic topics were identified within recent newspapers. The survey instrument employed was an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire, and was undertaken with first-year undergraduate Geography students at a university in South Africa. Results show that the exercise enabled students (n = 158) to more readily see the application of geographical knowledge to both environmental and social problems that they identified in the newspaper stories. Students also identified that studying Geography may be able to help them increase their skills, employment prospects and earning potential. These findings can help locate the disciplinary concerns and applicability of Geography in post-apartheid South Africa within the wider context of the twenty-first Century world.

“Choice may not necessarily be a good thing”: student attitudes to autonomy in interdisciplinary project-based learning in GEES disciplines

Project-based learning (PjBL) is argued to foster a more democratic approach to education, particularly through increasing students’ autonomy over their learning. This article presents the findings of research into students’ views relating to autonomy over topic choice and group constitution during a series of trial interdisciplinary PjBL activities with first-year geography, earth and environmental sciences (GEES) undergraduates in a UK university. Semi-structured interviews with participating students and tutors, in addition to audio-recordings of staff–student discussion during student-led presentation sessions, formed the data set analysed for this article. Findings suggest that while some degree of autonomy was welcomed, participants largely favoured prescription regarding research question and group membership. This has implications for the implementation of PjBL and its potential to foster democratization within the GEES disciplines.

Problem-Based Learning to Foster Deep Learning in Preservice Geography Teacher Education

In South Africa, geography education students’ approach to deep learning has received little attention. Therefore the purpose of this one-shot experimental case study was to evaluate the extent to which first-year geography education students used deep or surface learning in an embedded problem-based learning (PBL) format. The researchers measured students’ approach to learning in this PBL format in two groups of first-year students (2012 and 2013), using the standardized revised study process questionnaire adapted to the PBL context. The study provided evidence to suggest that the implementation of PBL could help to foster deep learning among first-year geography education students.

Using problem-based learning in large undergraduate fieldwork classes: an Australian example

Problem-based learning (PBL) is one of a suite of strategies based on the premise that placing students at the centre of the learning process ultimately improves skills, knowledge and understanding. To date, however, there remain relatively few reports on the application of PBL within geography curricula. This paper traces the evolution of a PBL project in a first-year geography course with large student enrolments. It shows that while the adoption of PBL was challenging, the majority of students found the approach rewarding and enjoyable. Student feedback indicated that the most valuable components of the project were independent learning and working “hands on”, while the least enjoyable included a sense of disorganisation and uncertainty that accompanied independence. The paper also reflects on the more general lessons drawn from the PBL project, focusing on issues such as assessment, staffing, resources and departmental culture.

Improving student performance in a first-year geography course: Examining the importance of computer-assisted formative assessment

The main objective of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of computer-assisted formative assessment in a large, first-year undergraduate geography course. In particular, the paper evaluates the impact of computer-assisted multiple-choice practice tests on student performance in the course as well as student opinions of this type of formative assessment in two academic years (2008 and 2009). The multiple-choice questions included in the formative assessment vary in their level of difficulty and range from those that focus on knowledge and comprehension to those that focus on application and analysis. While the use of the computer-assisted practice tests is completely voluntary over 50 percent of students used them. Feedback questionnaires from both academic years reveals that students are overwhelmingly positive with over 95 percent indicating that the computer-assisted practice tests assist them in identifying their strengths and weaknesses and help them prepare for in-class midterms and final exams. Statistical analysis of in-class performance on midterms shows that students who use the computer-assisted practice quizzes earn significantly higher grades (i.e., equivalent to three letter grades) than those students who do not. The results of the research demonstrate that computer-assisted formative assessment (in this case practice tests) has a positive impact on student performance.

Teaching for Better Learning: A Blended Learning Pilot Project with First-Year Geography Undergraduates

Internationally, recognition is growing that the transition between post-primary and higher education is raising a number of challenges for both students and educators. Simultaneously with growing class sizes, resources have become more constrained and there is a new set of expectations from the “net generation” (Mohanna, 2007, p. 211) The use of e-learning in medical education, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 83, p. 211). Within this transforming context, modes of instruction that cater for different paces of learning and learning styles by combining traditional and electronic media have become increasingly important. This paper discusses the transformation of an introductory human geography module at University College Dublin using a blended learning approach that extends beyond the media used to incorporate all aspects of, and inputs into, the learning process. Our experience highlights how blended learning can aid the achievement of a range of objectives in relation to student engagement and the promotion of deeper learning. However, blended learning is not a quick-fix solution to all issues relating to new university students and our analysis draws out a more complex relationship than anticipated between blended learning and student retention that will require further examination.

Blended Learning: The Perceptions of First-year Geography Students

Focusing on Digital Worlds, a first-year geography blended learning course at the University of Auckland, this paper gives voice to the students, examining how they perceived e-learning versus traditional learning mechanisms; how e-learning mechanisms have affected their learning behaviour; and why certain e-learning mechanisms offered in the course were more appealing than others. It demonstrates that students' views are determined by their individual learning styles and how they perceive the university experience. Information and communication technologies were recognized to provide complementary learning benefits, especially when other factors inhibited learning, but traditional mechanisms such as lectures were still greatly valued.

Implementing Student Peer Review: Opportunity versus Change Management

This paper reflects on the implementation of a peer-assessment innovation in a large first-year geography unit. While the innovation had been carefully researched, difficulties in the implementation drew the authors' attention to the need for more change management to be built into the design and development. Focusing specifically on the teacher perspective, they describe the need for adequate development for all teaching staff to avoid miscommunication and variable implementation. Only on reflection did they realize that was a distinction between cooperation and commitment of members of the teaching team involved in this peer-assessment exercise. This resulted in patchy implementation and different levels of satisfaction being reported by different classes. They suggest that innovation implementation requires active learning strategies for staff who have not been involved in the design process. Given that extensive staff development activities are not possible because teachers are already overloaded, a critical friend approach might help encourage the whole teaching team to commit and more successfully implement change.

Self-assessment and Reflective Learning for First-year University Geography Students: A Simple Guide or Simply Misguided?

A self-assessment schedule has been developed for first-year geography students at Curtin University of Technology. Its purpose is to guide students towards independent learning by encouraging them to reflect more on ‘what’ and ‘how’ they learn. Results of the 2003 and 2004 trials showed that the self-assessment schedule had a positive impact on student learning and was at least partially effective in improving students' critical thinking skills. It helped students to plan and organize their thoughts, describe the geographical characteristics related to their fieldwork exercise and indicated that students were generally positive about becoming more independent and reflective learners.

Using a Web-based Resource to Prepare Students for Fieldwork: Evaluating the Dark Peak Virtual Tour

This paper reports on development of a Dark Peak website and its use to prepare first-year geography students for a one-day physical geography field course in the south Pennines. The Virtual Tour (VT) component of the website is the main focus of this paper. Pre- and post-fieldwork evaluations of the first version of the VT by 195 students are presented with the revisions undertaken as a result of this feedback. Recommendations for the design and implementation of virtual fieldwork websites are made. The current version is available at http://www.art.man.ac.uk/Geog/fieldwork/

Teaching Geography to Non-traditional Students: Inducting, nurturing and retaining them

The Department of Environmental and Biological Studies at Liverpool Hope University College recruits an above-average number of students who could be classified as 'non-traditional'. Many are mature and many have gained entry to higher education via routes other than A level. In addition, and increasingly, many have selected or been allocated to the first-year geography modules with little or no experience of geography education. These students undertake a carefully structured programme of small-group teaching, designed to induct and train them in the practices of higher education and through which they are introduced to key geographical concepts. This paper highlights some of the issues arising from teaching non-traditional students and identifies as case studies elements of the programme, which support the development of students' skills and geographical understanding.

Teaching Geography to Non-traditional Students: inducting, nurturing and retaining them

The Department of Environmental and Biological Studies at Liverpool Hope University College recruits an above-average number of students who could be classified as 'non-traditional'. Many are mature and many have gained entry to higher education via routes other than A level. In addition, and increasingly, many have selected or been allocated to the first-year geography modules with little or no experience of geography education. These students undertake a carefully structured programme of small-group teaching, designed to induct and train them in the practices of higher education and through which they are introduced to key geographical concepts. This paper highlights some of the issues arising from teaching non-traditional students and identifies as case studies elements of the programme, which support the development of students' skills and geographical understanding.

Approaches to Learning: a study of first-year geography undergraduates

This paper reports the findings of a survey conducted to investigate how a cohort of geography undergraduates approach learning. The learning approaches they adopt and how their perceived confidence levels change after one year in higher education are discussed. The students were exposed to a geography-based skills-development programme which emphasised a deep approach to learning. Results demonstrate that, although students' confidence levels in their ability to study and learn improved, they became increasingly instrumental in their approach to learning.

Approaches to Learning: A study of first-year geography undergraduates

This paper reports the findings of a survey conducted to investigate how a cohort of geography undergraduates approach learning. The learning approaches they adopt and how their perceived confidence levels change after one year in higher education are discussed. The students were exposed to a geography-based skills-development programme which emphasised a deep approach to learning. Results demonstrate that, although students' confidence levels in their ability to study and learn improved, they became increasingly instrumental in their approach to learning.

Evaluation of Student Learning Experiences in Physical Geography Fieldwork: Paddling or pedagogy?

This paper reports a project carried out with first-year geography students undertaking physical geography fieldwork. An experiment within the context of fluvial studies tests the effectiveness of student learning using contrasting approaches based on analytical-prediction and descriptive-explanation. The results, based on marks analysis and a review of student feedback, indicate that in the short term the traditional descriptive-explanation approach is significantly more conducive to student learning than the analytical-predictive mode.

Using CAL and the Web for First-year Geography Methods Teaching

As part of a new course structure, a four-week course had to be devised in which key spatial skills would be delivered to a large cohort of first-year undergraduate geography students. The use of PC-based computer aided learning (CAL) material and the World Wide Web (Web) have already gained some credibility in undergraduate courses in the UK and so the authors took the opportunity to explore their usefulness in a Sussex context. The development of the course received some internal funding and a consequent obligation was formally to evaluate its delivery. This paper outlines the rationale behind the course and examines the results of its delivery in the context of using technology to enhance learning.