Browsing by Subject "Geography Education"
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Item Geospatial Technology to Enhance Spatial Thinking and Facilitate Processes of Reasoning(2014-10-23) Metoyer, Sandra KayResearch on spatial thinking in geography education supports the belief that spatial thinking is crucial to academic and career success in geography and other spatially-dependent sciences. It also supports the belief that spatial thinking is malleable, it can be improved upon through education and training. Tools purported to facilitate the training of spatial thinking include geospatial technologies (GST) such as Virtual Globes and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of GST as an instructional tool on the development of spatial skills and the acquisition of a spatially-dependent geography concept, central place theory, within an authentic classroom context. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare three groups: an intervention group using GST, a comparison group using traditional paper-and-pencil maps, and a control group. Groups were tested on spatial skills, spatial attitudes, and content knowledge. Results indicate that practice with GST had no effect on spatial skills. Instruction using GST, however, had a significant positive effect on gains in content knowledge as compared to the paper-and-pencil group. Results also indicate that individuals with a high starting level of spatial skill have greater gains in spatial relations content knowledge than their low or average spatial skill counterparts, especially within the GST intervention group. These findings support the inclusion of GST in geography education. Geospatial technologies promote the acquisition of spatially-dependent content for some groups of students. Instruction utilizing GST may, with repeated exposure, facilitate the development of spatial thinking.Item Short-term Study Abroad Programs: Where They Came From, How They Work, and Why They Often Don't(2013-12-04) Lemmons, KellyThis dissertation shows that the ideology of liberalism formed the basis of the Doctrine of Study Abroad (DSA). The DSA was formed in the 1940s and 1950s and teaches that any time spent studying abroad is beneficial and increases tolerance and world peace. The DSA was established by liberal policy makers within institutions of higher education as a method of liberal education to instill the principles of liberalism in the rising generation. The historically established DSA and its assumptions were tested against the contemporary short-term study abroad movement using three study abroad groups from Texas A&M University. Based on the results it is shown that short-term study abroad does not hold up to the assumptions of the DSA. It is therefore concluded that culture is not inherent in study abroad, that students only make shallow observations and interpretations of potentially meaningful cultural interactions when left to their own devices. It is suggested that ?interventions,? such as ?cultural coaching? and time set aside for focus and directed reflection be made within the process of student learning while abroad to enable students to have meaningful cultural interactions. This dissertation argues that suggestions proposed in this research and by the ?learning centered? movement will not be incorporated into study abroad programs due to the historical inertia of the DSA and its influence within institutions of higher education. The dissertation concludes that it is necessary to take a critical attitude toward the fundamental presuppositions of the educational paradigm one is investigating, that education research is important because education policy is prone to wishful thinking, and that making critical investigations are necessary to expose flaws in order to correct them.