European Research in Geography Education From where we know … · 2009. 3. 31. · Situation in primary schools aims research methodology results consequences Dr. Daniela Schmeinck

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Dr. Daniela Schmeinck European Research in Geography Education - From where we know what we know

Brno, 27.10.2008

European Research in

Geography Education

-

From where we know what we know

Situation in primary schools aims research methodology results consequences


Jean Piaget

(1896 - 1980)

Piaget researched,

how children organise

their perceptions in

cognitive structures

and which stages are

to be indicate thereby.

Piaget‘s approach about the child‘s concept of space

other approaches: Stückrath (1968), Engelhardt (1977)… (Piaget 1999, S. 251)

Brno, 27.10.2008

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Piaget:

Children aged 10 are not yet able to

represent the world or Europe in a map

because they are still in the ‘concrete

operational phase‘.

Maps are too abstract!

Brno, 27.10.2008



girl 9 years

Germany

Brno, 27.10.2008

Source: Schmeinck 2007

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Outline of the presentation

Situation in primary schools – curricula

Situation in primary schools – reality

Aims of the empirical research study

Research methodology

Results of the study

Consequences

Brno, 27.10.2008



1990 – Resolution by the Conference of the Ministers of Education

(KMK) for a realisation of “Europe in School” (“Europa im

Unterricht”)

(Sekretariat der Ständigen Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1990)

2002 – Perspectives Framework for General Studies in Primary Education:

Examples of contents and processes (spatial perspective)

the state, Germany, Europe, the world in overview

(Gesellschaft für Didaktik des Sachunterrichts 2002)

How is “the global dimension” implemented into the

German primary school geography curricula?

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Social

Studies

Political

Science Physics

Geography Chemistry

Biology

History

Sociology

Technology

(3 h / week)

General studies (“Sachunterricht”)



“General Studies” contents

1. / 2.

year

• the new pupils learn to orientate themselves at school

• significant points in the environment of our school are important for the

orientation

• ways to school are places of important experiences for children

• the safest way to school

3. year • people of other countries are living in our town

• how people in other countries subsist

• from reality to mapping

• the changes in and of our town have causes and

• looking after history: our town has a past

4. year • how children in other countries live

• organisation of the homeland in “Landkreis” and “Region”

• regional distinctions of our landscape

• man is using the landscape and transforms it thereby

• long time ago people already lived in our home region and shaped the

landscape

(Ministerium für Kultus und Sport Baden-Württemberg 1994)

General studies (“Sachunterricht”) in Baden-Württemberg

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From local to global

home town

home nation

home region

world



(7 h / week)

Human – Nature – Culture (“Mensch – Natur - Kultur”)

Art

&

Textile

Crafts

Music

Social

Studies

Political

Science Physics

Geography Chemistry

Biology

History

Sociology

Technology

General

Studies

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in primary school all of

these aspects have to be

treated.

in geography (class 3 & 4):

topography, the river Rhine,

border town, „regio“

Switzerland:

canton Basel-Land

child

health media

employment

and technology

culture

fellow human

being

Basel

nature




Ambition for the research

is to find out

• Concepts of children

• Factors of influence

• …

Devise more effective teaching strategies to

enable children to have a more accurate and

durable frame of reference for developing

store of location, …

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Research design

Mental Maps

Student questionnaires

Parent questionnaires

Teacher questionnaires

theoretical fundamentals

creation of hypotheses

pilot studies

mental maps

pilot studies

questionnaires

development of the

survey and interpretation

instruments

proving of the survey and

interpretation instruments

main study

optimisation of

the interpretation

instruments

optimisation of

the survey

instruments

digitalisation and categorisation of the data

analysis & interpretation of the data; Discussion of the results




Draw a world map.

Draw and write on your map anything

you can think of with regards to the world.

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boy 9 years

Germany





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boy

9 years

Germany

USA: They

are making a

lot of good

films here.

America: In

America also

good films

are made.

Africa: In

Africa there

are free living

elephants.

Asia: A lot of food is plant here.

Australia: It is

very hot here.

In Europe there are a lot of

countries; e.g. France, Italy,

Austria, Switzerland…


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girl

11 years

Germany

There are

plants.

There are

humans.

There are

countries such

as: Italy, Croatia,

Asia, Portugal,

Poland, Africa.

And different things: rainbow,

sun, rain, thunderstorm,

thunder, lightning, air, clouds.

There are

animals.




girl

10 years

Germany

The sea/ocean

is always

drawn in blue.

The countries

are always

drawn in green.

The Black Sea.

The Red

Sea.


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Student

questionnaire




Parents

questionnaire


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Teacher

questionnaire




International locations

Sourc

e:

Schm

ein

ck 2

007

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Sample

Country

Number of children

Boys Girls Total

Germany 188 191 380

Switzerland 43 39 82

France 33 38 71

Spain 34 28 62

United Kingdom 31 20 51

Sweden 12 10 23

Chile 19 14 33

USA 10 12 22

Total 370 352 724 Source: Schmeinck 2007



Qualitative categories for the maps shown in

characteristically ideal form

A E I M

B F J N

C G K O

D H L


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Distribution of the map categories

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O

Germany (N=380)





0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Germany (N=380) France (N=71)


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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Germany (N=380) France (N=71) United Kingdom (N=49)




Average quality of the world maps

* The average was build on the points score with increasing scores being assigned to

maps of increasing complexity (scores ranged from A = 0 up to O = 14)

Country Average N

France 9.73 71

Sweden 9.00 22

United Kingdom 8.02 49

Spain 7.94 62

Switzerland 7.68 82

Germany 6.71 379

Chile 6.44 32

USA 6.41 22

Total 7.36 719

Sourc

e:

Schm

ein

ck 2

007

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Comparison between the average of boys and girls

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


Girls (N=191) Boys (N=188)

Kruskal-Wallis-Test: 2 =11,8, df=1 und p=0.001

Sourc

e:

Schm

ein

ck 2

007



Creation of indexes

Traveling

Out-of-school-experiences

Interest

Family

School

Competences concerning maps

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Results

Girl get more benefit out of travel experiences than boys

Boys have more experiences with cartographic media

than girls and get more benefit out of these experiences

With girls the interest in foreign countries affects the

quality of the mental maps less strongly than with boys



Results

A correlation between the parental influence (INDEX

Family) and the mental maps can‘t be proven statistically

Boys have more competencies in working with

cartographic media than girls and get more benefit out

of these competencies

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Investigations for characteristics by cluster-analytic

procedures

Hierarchical agglomerative

cluster analysis

development of the heterogeneity

measure

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33

Anzahl der Cluster

Fehlerquadrat-

summe

Sourc

e:

Schm

ein

ck 2

007




Cluster centres of the final solution

Cluster

1 2 3

INDEX ”Media“ -,15960 -,33348 ,81403

INDEX “Travelling“ -,13770 -,15922 ,17968

INDEX “Interest“ ,21059 -,81363 ,71828

INDEX ”School“ ,16781 -,79142 ,61056

INDEX “Map competencies“ -,90410 ,46165 ,72507


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Group differences between the cluster by the example of the

mental maps




Results

Children of the first cluster rather draw „poor“ mental

maps; children of the third cluster in average draw the best mental maps

By majority children from Germany,

Chile and the USA were assigned

to the fist cluster whereas children from Sweden, France and Spain

belong to the third cluster


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Results

In France girls and boys differ less according to their

cluster affiliation than in Germany or in the United Kingdom

For girls the country affiliation has a bigger effect on the

spatial perceptions respectively on the quality of the

mental maps than for boys



Consequences

Individual definition of space on the basis of the preconditions for learning of the children

Regularly change of perspectives and dimensions

Emotional end personal relationship

Showing the relation between areas / make the relation

understandable

Tying up to the preconditions of the children

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Model for the development of spatial conceptions

in primary school

spiral curriculum

directly

experienced area

foreign areas

experienced

area

imagined

areas

factors of

influence

preconceptions of

children

factors of

influence

emotional and personal

reference levels




Source: author

Sourc

e:

auth

or

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How children see the world is a process, which is

considerably affected by out-of-school factors.

That children see the world also differently, for this the school

can and should make a contribution – in the sense of an

education for responsibility. (Schmeinck 2007)


Brno, 27.10.2008

European Research in

Geography Education

-

From where we know what we know

Thank you for your attention!

Documents

European Research in Geography Education From where we know … · 2009. 3. 31. · Situation in primary schools aims research methodology results consequences Dr. Daniela Schmeinck