Geography Education Research Research Articles

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

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.

Exploring comparative curricular research in geography education

Geography curricula is one of the least researched fields in geography education. This paper offers a brief description of the curricular architecture, aims, content, philosophies, epistemologies, and main factors influencing school geographies in Germany and Romania to prepare the development of analytical tools for future comparative studies. The conclusions of this study show that despite the uniqueness of every national or regional setting, there is a considerable number of similarities in how geography is conceived as a school subject, which can be the starting point to facilitate comparison.

“Can We Just Get Rid of the Classroom?” Thinking Space, Relationally

From the moment there is genius, there is something that belongs to no school, no period, something that achieves a breakthrough. --Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, The Anti-Oedipus from A Thousand Plateaus ... to begin always anew, to make, to reconstruct, and to not spoil, to refuse to bureaucratize the mind, to understand and to live life as a process--live to become. --Paulo Freire While I was observing teacher candidates at a University in the Midwest U.S. a few months ago, I expected to hear questions and comments from the teacher candidates on the value of philosophy in education. But, as these future teachers considered the works of John Dewey, I listened intently to their interactions. At one point, the professor of the course said, We need an intelligent theory of education which is different from an ideology. Unexpectedly, a teacher candidate said, Well, can't we just get rid of the classroom? There was a long pause and some nervous laughter that ensued. These teacher candidates were not suggesting that schools or classroom spaces be removed from being a central figure of an education system. Rather, these teacher candidates were raising the issue of how learning occurs and in what types of conditions, or spaces, these occurrences materialize. Reflecting on this moment in preparation for this article led me to think about the rules and norms that encode modern schooling practices--things so simple as a classroom with four walls, a space for formal learning. I wonder about the current ideologies that govern modern schooling practices in formal and informal spaces, and importantly, for this article, the ideologies that govern teaching preparations and teaching practices in contested, alternative spaces. What happens if we fail to see alternative spaces? I tend to believe that much happens beneath the surface when we are engaged in educational theory and research. The argument of this article is primarily a theoretical one that engages with conceptual ideas in critical geography scholarship and more recent theorizing in comparative education literature on globalization and education. I see continuity within the critical geography theorizing found in Edward Soja's work in Seeking Spatial Justice and more recent literature on scale by comparative education researchers (Roberston & Dale, 2008). Thus, I explore the relationship between critical geography and comparative education research on globalization theory. As Helfenbein (2010) notes, Critical geographers are interested in space, place, power and identity (p. 304). This article engages with these elements of spatial analysis but by drawing attention to the nuances of space as distinct from place. In addition, it argues that we need to theorize space as relational and fluid through poststructuralist theories of offered by the work of Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari, Huge Tomlinson, and Graham Burchell entitled, What is philosophy? and the individual work of Gilles Deleuze entitled Bergsonism. (1) Ultimately, in examining the critical geography literature from Edward Soja (2010), this article tests the limits of Edward Soja's conception of space. In addition, I discuss a teaching experience in Cuba to shed some light on how we might reconceptualize space as distinct from place. I will spend some time drawing out the distinction between space and place and am ultimately concerned with what and who constitutes space. Finally, I argue for a more nuanced theorization of space using Deleuzian (1988, 1994) concepts of and multiplicity to understand space as fluid, contested, negotiated and emergent. Within this latter discussion of Deleuze's concepts I will define becoming and argue that it is a concept that can potentially capture the materiality of lived experiences in spaces of possibility. The call for a nuanced post-structuralist conceptualization of space draws attention to alternative spaces that are not governed by normative, positivistic ontologies, and thus merges the historical, the social and the spatial. …

The concept of disasters in Geography Education

In the context of current discussions on natural hazards, natural risks and (human) disasters around the world, the aspect of disaster risk reduction (DRR) is gaining more and more importance. The present contribution elucidates the didactical consequences this development has on competence-oriented Geography teacher training at universities/colleges as well as in Geography Education research.

A Semantic Network Analysis of the Recent Trend of Primary Geography Education Research in South Korea

A Semantic Network Analysis of the Recent Trend of Primary Geography Education Research in South Korea

Geography Education Research in Serbia: a Teacher’s Perspective

Geography Education Research in Serbia: a Teacher’s Perspective

Insights on the field of geography education from a review of master's level practitioner research

ABSTRACTIn this paper, I report on a review of over 400 master's level dissertations in geography education completed since 1968 at the UCL Institute of Education, London. The aim of this review is to understand how the field of geography education has been understood and problematised by practitioners within the field. Unlike the Road Map Report on Geography Education Research which reviews geography education research from a strategic perspective, this research explores the field from the perspective of the practitioners and, therefore, asks what are the issues that concern practitioner researchers. Whilst practitioners add an important perspective on the field, their concerns are often not evident in the published literature. This paper argues that the practitioner focus on “problems of the day” is a key dimension that needs to be more widely recognised in the academic literature. This goes beyond a simple definition of research as describing “what works” in education, but as part of an ongoing dialogue between research and practice that is characteristic of a practical field of research enquiry. The research contributes to our understanding of how the field of geography education (within specific contexts) is experienced and problematised by practitioners.

Mental map as a tool and an object of research in geographical education

Mental maps are an object of interest on the part of a number of academic disciplines, including geography education. The aim of this article is to discuss different concepts of mental maps in geography and pedagogical disciplines and to describe the possibilities of their use as an object and tool of geographical education. All of this is subsequently applied in a case study. From the methodological point of view, cartographic and statistical methods (aggregated mental map and geographical names frequency map) were used in order to assess the pupils’ knowledge (object) and to evaluate textbooks (tool). They enable a visual, spatial comparison of topographical terms pupils know and which appear in a textbook itself. As a result, we discuss how to use mental maps in geographical education theoretically and also practically. However, the conclusions of the case study have a limited validity (due to the limited sample), while they indicate important contexts for further development of the research.

Placing Advanced Placement® Human Geography: Its Role in U.S. Geography Education

ABSTRACTThis article examines Advanced Placement Human Geography (AP HG) in the context of its place in efforts to reform geography education. It presents a critical analysis of the AP program and its curriculum, asserting that it represents “powerful knowledge” as conceptualized by Young. It concludes with a call for research in AP HG aligned with recommendations to focus geography education research. Geographers in higher education are encouraged to embrace AP HG as a mechanism to recruit students and majors.

The Trends and Results Analysis of Geography Education Research - Focusing on Journal Articles of the Korean Geographical Society -

The Trends and Results Analysis of Geography Education Research - Focusing on Journal Articles of the Korean Geographical Society -

Perspektiven für eine konzeptionelle Orientierung der Bildungsgeographie

Abstract. Education has become central to the social and political debates in many countries. Under the influence of comparative international studies as well as national rankings of education institutions there is a growing awareness for social and regional inequalities of formal education infrastructure and processes. This article focuses on the geographical education research in Germany by reviewing existing research work on the one hand and opening perspectives for future studies in geography of education on the other. The main aim is to restructure the field of German Bildungsgeographie (geography of education) along key concepts and perspectives from human geography. After a brief introduction, the first part discusses the concept of Bildung (education) and its transformation. The following chapter sketches the major lines of research in geography of education in the German-speaking context. In the last and most extensive part six key concepts from human geography are pointed out as suitable reference points to situate existing and future research activities in the field of geography of education.

Alternative Methods in Geography Education Research - Application of QCA(Qualitative Content Analysis) -

Alternative Methods in Geography Education Research - Application of QCA(Qualitative Content Analysis) -

A reason and significance of geo-capabilities proposing on Euro-USA geography education research

A reason and significance of geo-capabilities proposing on Euro-USA geography education research

Looking at and looking along: a conceptual framework for teaching different perspectives in geography

This paper builds on arguments made by Chalmers, Keown, and Kent [Exploring different ‘perspectives’ in secondary geography: Professional development options. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 11(4), 313–324 (2002)], about teaching different theoretical perspectives in geography. A conceptual framework developed by C.S. Lewis is discussed and offered as one way of facilitating the teaching of different perspectives. The framework involves an analytic distinction between looking at and looking along. Looking at is associated with abstract, external, impersonal, uninvolved knowledge. Looking along is presented in terms of participant, inhabited, personal, committed knowledge. The analytic distinction between these approaches is applied to geography education using the perspectives suggested by Chalmers et al. of post-Fordism and deep ecology. Suggestions are made to illustrate what it might mean to look at and look along both of these theoretical perspectives. An argument is made that the analogy of looking at and looking along may inform on-going discussions in geography education research, such as critiques of school geography for not engaging with different perspectives, and debates surrounding the place of advocacy in the curriculum.

The state of field research in geography education of senior high schools in Kanagawa Pref.

The state of field research in geography education of senior high schools in Kanagawa Pref.

Changing times in England: the influence on geography teachers’ professional practice

School geography in England has been characterised as a pendulum swinging between policies that emphasise curriculum and pedagogy alternately. In this paper, I illustrate the influence of these shifts on geography teacher's professional practice, by drawing on three “moments” from my experience as a student, teacher and teacher educator. Barnett's description of teacher professionalism as a continuous project of “being” illuminates how geography teachers can adapt to competing influences. It reflects teacher professionalism as an unfinished project, which is responsive, but not beholden, to shifting trends, and is informed by how teachers frame and enact policies. I argue that recognising these contextual factors is key to supporting geography teachers in “being” geography education professionals. As education becomes increasingly competitive on a global scale, individual governments are looking internationally for “solutions” to improve educational rankings. In this climate, the future of geography education will rest on how teachers react locally to international trends. Geography teacher educators can support this process by continuing to inform the field through meaningful geography education research, in particular in making the contextual factors of their research explicit. This can be supported through continued successful international collaboration in geography education research.

Formação de professores e cartografia escolar: uma contribuição para a Geografia

The purpose of this work is to debate on the relevance of research experiences in the formation of Geography teachers, as well as to indicate the importance of articulating research and teaching activities in the University. One will observe that, among Geography degrees, an anarchical conceptual model prevails, in which pedagogical content is attributed to specific discipline courses, without an articulation to the science in question. It is also noted that the distinction between the formation of the graduate and the teacher needs reflection, since there is no significant difference paradoxically between the curricular components of the two modalities. This work indicates the relevance of research in School Cartography, concluding that it is urgent to debate on the thematic amplification of research in Geography education, with the goal of promoting a consolidation or a configuration of a specific field of research in School Geography.

Towards a framework for research in geographical education

Research is the jewel in the crown of geographical education. Well-conducted and reliable research provides information, insights and understandings accessible to professionals as they go about their daily tasks. It draws on educational research for its methodology and contributes to both the content and methodology of educational research. Research is a deliberate, systematic activity founded on ethical behaviour. However, research in geographical education requires a culture conducive to research and trained researchers supported through funding adequate for them to undertake projects that vary in scale and complexity. This article is based on a framework of research in geographical education that is sufficiently general to locate recent and current studies and enables lines to be drawn between specific studies located in particular places and the components of the framework. The framework is illustrated in Figure Nº1.

Bengt Schüllerqvist (ed.): Patterns of Research in Civics, History, Geography and Religious Education

Bengt Schüllerqvist (ed.): Patterns of Research in Civics, History, Geography and Religious Education

Investigating change in young people’s understandings of Japan: a study of learning about a distant place

This article demonstrates how a set of complementary qualitative methods can be used to construct a detailed picture not only of the nature of young people’s representations of a distant place but the processes of learning by which such representations develop over the medium term. The analysis is based on an interpretive case study of a class of 13‐ to 14‐year‐olds in England learning about Japan as part of their geography curriculum. The findings identify three processes through which students’ representations of Japan became more detailed and nuanced over time: transfer of existing knowledge from other locational contexts to the distant place; active connection with new information; and processing of that information through categorisation and category refinement. Evidence from the study suggests the potential for learning activities designed to encourage these processes and highlights the need for additional longitudinal research in geography education.