Geography Teachers’ Views on Effective Geography Teaching (original) (raw)
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The present study aims to determine how " geography " is perceived by training geography teachers (TGT) in Turkey. The method employed was the Content Analysis Method. All the necessary analyses were done based upon the answers given by the students to two open-ended questions " (a) I think the concept of geography denotes-(b) In my way of thinking, geography means-". The population of the present study was made up of 433 TGT educated in all the Departments of Geography Teaching occurring in 8 different universities across Turkey. All the answers given by the trainings were scrutinized and then expressions and concepts similar to each other in meaning and content were designed in such a way that they all appear in the same column. As a result of this process was determined from 10 different " Geography Concepts Category " .
The purpose of this study is to identify the main challenges geography teachers face in providing a more efficient geography education and the solutions teachers come up with against these issues. In order to be more effective in geography teaching, identifying and producing solutions for the issues that geography teachers go through within the context of school administration, students, parents and other branch teachers is among the first measures that need to be taken. Phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. As a part of the study, semi-structured interviews were held with 212 voluntary geography teachers from nine different provinces of Turkey, and the obtained results were analyzed using descriptive analysis. According to the obtained findings, two third of the geography teachers state that they have problems with parents, more than half with the school administration and students, and more than one third with other branch teachers. By extension, it can be seen that the majority of geography teachers face problems with parents, students and school administration, the key shareholders of education. In an effort to turn the current situation around, applied trainings assisted by case studies may be provided to improve geography teachers' conflict management, adolescent psychology, problem solving and communication skills. Furthermore, projects that will turn the socio-cultural environment of the school into a center of attraction and promote participation may be designed to spark parents' interest in education. Lastly, school administrators may be suggested to take measures in terms of both in-service training and material and learning environment that are aimed at inclining teachers towards using student-oriented active learning methods and techniques in order to generate interest and motivation in students towards lessons.
The Problems of Geography Education and Some Suggestions
When teacher education programs in Turkey are scrutinized in detail, it can be seen that geography education is included in the teacher training programs of Geography, Primary School, and Social Studies. Th ese programs aim to provide fi eld knowledge, general culture, and fi eld teaching skills. Th e success of geography teaching depends on defi ning the problems and suggesting solutions for these problems. In this study, 16 volunteer instructors from eleven diff erent universities were taken as participants and semi-structured interviews were carried out with the group. Th e data obtained were analyzed by descriptive analysis techniques. Some problems on geography education were identifi ed and possible solutions to those problems were suggested. Th e main problems are that instructors are not suffi cient in geography education; that the removal of some geography courses negatively aff ects geography education; and that teacher trainees in the fi eld have low motivation. It is hoped that the study will shed some light on training more skilful teachers in geography education.
Comparative analysis of the methods of teaching geography in different types of schools
2020
As an entrant teacher, it has been a major issue for us to identify the problems and circumstances of teaching geography in various schools. We have been interested in the opinion of teachers about the state of education, their practical experience and solutions. As part of our research, lessons were observed in five different types of schools and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers afterward. We complemented these with an online survey which was filled out by 122 geography teachers throughout the country. A diagnostic measurement and an attitude research took place in the monitored classes, where the sample included 131 people. Mostly close-ended questions were applied where Likert Scale types were significant in order to analyse the results of the survey more efficiently. The results of the diagnostic tests did not indicate significant difference. However; the survey denoted that applying diverse methods results in acquiring a deeper knowledge. Furthermore,...
Examination of Main Trends in Geographical Education Research in Turkey
2018
Geography, one of the oldest scientific fields among the academic disciplines (Stoltman, 2012), has been percieved differently in different periods of time and Abstract The main purpose of the present study is to examine the main tendencies of the articles published in the field of geography education between the years of 2008 and 2018 in Turkey. Within the scope of this purpose, this study examined the subject fields, research methods, data collection tools, data analysis techniques and sampling methods used in the geography education studies in the journals scanned by the SSCI, ESCI and ULAKBIM social sciences databases in Turkey. The study used the document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods. The study evaluated 224 articles determined according to the purposeful sampling method from the related databases by using the Geography Education Article Classification Form (GEACF) and then analyzed the obtained pieces of data by using the content analysis method and finally made some interpretations. According to the findings of the study, in the last ten years in Turkey, the highest number of articles were published in 2010 (n=33) and the lowest number of articles were published in 2017 (n=13). It was also observed that, in the field of geography education, the highest number of articles were published in the Marmara Geography Journal; however, in the journals scanned in SSCI, a total of (n=17) articles were published in the last ten years. Moreover, the studies were also determined to show more interest in the subject areas of teacher training and learning/teaching; questionnaires and scales were generally used as a data collection tool; the frequency/percentage and content analysis methods were preferred in the analysis of data; quantitative and qualitative methods were generally used in studies on geography education; on the contrary, mixed methods were less frequently used.
Why Geography Learning: Candidate Teachers’ Views for Geography
Review of International Geographical Education Online
The aim of this study is to reveal the status of the geography course among other courses as perceived by teacher candidates, the way they use their geographic knowledge in daily life, what their expectations are from geography courses, and to determine their opinions about the necessity of learning geography and their suggestions for teaching geography. The phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research methods, was adopted in the study. The study group consisted of 94 preservice teachers studying in the Social Studies Education and Primary Education Program of the Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Education in the 2017-2018 academic year. While determining the study group, maximum diversity, which is one of the purposive sampling methods, was used and care was taken to make this selected group of interviewed participants to be representative of the department, age and gender proportion of the preservice teachers. Content analysis and descriptive analysis were used together in the interpretation of the data obtained from the interviews with the preservice teachers. The collected data revealed that the majority of the teacher candidates place the geography courses among the top level/important and necessary courses. According to the preservice teachers, learning geography is necessary for the effective national administration and homeland defense, instilling the love for the homeland, associating phenomena with daily life, gaining knowledge about the near and far environments, creating an awareness of coexistence , gaining a general culture, loving and preserving the natural environment, establishing links between natural and human-made formations and between their causes and consequences.
The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' methodological competencies useful for effective advanced level Geography teaching in secondary schools. Specifically, it investigated the contribution of teachers' methodological competencies to students' performance. The focus was on investigating teachers' effectiveness in using stipulated teaching strategies as per syllabus to determine their competences in teaching the geography subject. The specific objectives was to examine the major features of A-level Geography subject syllabus and Geography classroom teaching, to examine teachers' methodological competencies useful in teaching Geography subject at advanced secondary schools, to examine the students performance in advanced level Geography subject for the last four years in the national examinations (2008-2011) and to examine the contribution of teachers' methodological competencies on A-level Geography students' achievement. The study was carried in Iringa District in 2012. The adopted mixed research approach and employed multiple embedded case study research design; because, the nature of the study wanted multiple responses from different contextualized teaching and learning situation. The study involved a total of 52 respondents from three advanced level secondary schools, in which 36 students, 9 advanced level geography teachers, 3 heads of schools were sampled. Two officials from the NECTA and two officials from TIE were also sampled. Probability sampling with simple random selection of students was employed. A-level geography teachers, head of schools and officials from both TIE and NECTA were sampled purposively because of the uniqueness of the information required from them. Primary information of this study was gathered using Observation, interviews and semi-structured questionnaires. Documentary review was used to gather secondary data inscribed in different school documents. Data were analysed using both content analysis and descriptive statistical techniques. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-Version 16.0) and Microsoft Excel 2007 were used in analysing descriptive data. The findings revealed that, A-level geography syllabus have a well stipulated teaching and learning strategies needed to be used by teachers. However, the findings indicated that, teachers were not using effectively the stipulated teaching strategies. It was also revealed that, A-level geography teachers had inadequate pedagogical skills and knowledge implementing participatory teaching methods, instructional planning and time management. In light of these findings, it is recommended that, Colleges and Universities that prepare teachers should review their curricula to strengthen the methodological competences of graduating teachers. Professional in-service training programmes should be encouraged to complement pre-service training.
Teaching Geography in Secondary School: Teachers Perceptions and Experiences
The Geographic Base
Geography has the feature of being a science by examining the relationship of human and nature. Geography occupies very important role in school education. In secondary level education within Nepal there is a provision of selection of geography as an optional subject. This paper examines the perception and experiences about geography as an academic discipline from the teacher of secondary levels. Qualitative research method is used in this study and the semi structured interview method is applied. A semi structured interview guideline is applied for the participant in this study. Data are categorized into seven different groups and the analysis is carried out through the interpretations. The Research findings are discussed in relation to the theme and some recommendations have been given. This article provides useful information on the topic of perceptions and experiences of geography teachers on geography teaching in secondary school of Nepal.
Geography teacher quality and effectiveness: Lower Secondary School Students' points of view
Since the middle of the twentieth century the issues of teacher quality and effectiveness have attracted the attention of the educational community. As a result a wide range of studies have focused on this issue and have approached the topic by establishing categories of teacher characteristics, viewed mainly from the perspective of adult-teachers, administrators, teachers educators and educational researchers. There are, however, a limited number of studies that focus on geography teacher effectiveness from the perspective of students. This qualitative research approached and interviewed 8 th grade Lower Secondary School students on Lesvos island, in order to explore their understanding of geography teacher effectiveness. Findings suggest that students concentrate on the issues of geography knowledge and pedagogy, while the more technical dimensions of geography teaching also attract their attention. Student perspectives, however, retain a humanistic vision of teaching and learning...
Quality of Secondary Schools Trained Geography Teachers in Universities and Diploma Colleges in Pedagogy, 2019
There has been a concern about the quality of secondary schools teachers being prepared and produced by University and Teachers Training Colleges especially in pedagogy and use of instructional resources which is naturally and technically a pedagogical issue. The study was guided by Shulman`s concept of pedagogical content knowledge. A total sample of the study was ten (10) secondary schools, ten (10) Heads of department, fifty (50) Geography teachers and five hundred (500) Geography students. Schools, Geography teachers and Heads/Chairs of departments were purposively selected while form three (3) and form four (4) classes were selected by simple random method. The researcher used a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design involving both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Data were collected using questionnaires for Geography Teachers and interview schedules for Heads/Chairs of departments, observation schedules, and resources checklist. The major findings were most of University trained Geography teachers were not competent enough in pedagogy and faced difficulties in utilization of educational technology in teaching/ learning process which included: insufficient knowledge of meaningful instructional activities, fewer lessons in the timetable as recommended by the ministry, inadequacy of teaching/learning resources, examination oriented programme, cheating and inadequate teacher professional development in Geography. It was also noted most of TTCS trained teachers had been effectively oriented on the use of instructional resources but follow-up a mechanism like in-service training was inadequate. Based on research findings, the study recommended that Geography teachers should be in-service in the use of practical approaches and at least have six lessons per week to enable them to cover syllabus on time. It was also recommended that the ministry of education modernize all secondary schools in Kenya by technologizing them to make them tandem with the expectation of modern education. In addition, it was further recommended that most of the Geography departments should have Geography rooms which should be well equipped.