This study examined questions embedded in four high school world geography textbooks to evaluate the degree to which the three components of spatial thinking were incorporated: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking to assess the questions was developed and validated via a survey of a group of spatial thinking experts. The spatiality of the concepts featured in 3,010 questions sampled from the textbooks was analyzed. The degree to which spatial representations and stimuli for reasoning were presented was also measured. Every question was compared against the taxonomy and coded. Inter-coder reliability was measured on about one percent of the sample questions. The results indicated that most questions that required knowledge about spatial concepts could be answered by knowing only simple concepts, such as location and place-specific identity, rather than complex concepts that require the identification of spatial patterns and associations. Not many questions asked students to incorporate spatial representations to answer the questions. Few questions did require creating a new representation. Students were asked to recall memorized geographic knowledge and terms rather than to infer, hypothesize, and generalize. Little difference was found among the four textbooks in that they rarely integrated the three components of spatial thinking into the questions. The research found that page-margin questions involved aspects of spatial thinking more than section- and chapter-assessment questions. Relatively simple concepts and lower level cognitive processes, however, were required in most questions that integrated the three components. The development of questions to help students practice complex processes of spatial thinking is necessary. The taxonomy developed in this research can be used as a guide to design curricular, instructional materials, and questions that incorporate aspects of spatial thinking.

This study examined questions embedded in four high school world geography textbooks to evaluate the degree to which the three components of spatial thinking were incorporated: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking to assess the questions was developed and validated via a survey of a group of spatial thinking experts. The spatiality of the concepts featured in 3,010 questions sampled from the textbooks was analyzed. The degree to which spatial representations and stimuli for reasoning were presented was also measured. Every question was compared against the taxonomy and coded. Inter-coder reliability was measured on about one percent of the sample questions. The results indicated that most questions that required knowledge about spatial concepts could be answered by knowing only simple concepts, such as location and place-specific identity, rather than complex concepts that require the identification of spatial patterns and associations. Not many questions asked students to incorporate spatial representations to answer the questions. Few questions did require creating a new representation. Students were asked to recall memorized geographic knowledge and terms rather than to infer, hypothesize, and generalize. Little difference was found among the four textbooks in that they rarely integrated the three components of spatial thinking into the questions. The research found that page-margin questions involved aspects of spatial thinking more than section- and chapter-assessment questions. Relatively simple concepts and lower level cognitive processes, however, were required in most questions that integrated the three components. The development of questions to help students practice complex processes of spatial thinking is necessary. The taxonomy developed in this research can be used as a guide to design curricular, instructional materials, and questions that incorporate aspects of spatial thinking.

This thesis has two main aims. First, to establish whether the strengthening in 1988 of the right of parents to choose a secondary school for their child has led to increased travel to out-of-catchment schools in a case study area. Second, to identify the extent of socio-spatial variation of patterns and trends in choice of school. Secondary school transfer data relating to over 16,000 children for 1991 and 1993 to 1995 was analysed in a Geographical Information System (GIS). One hundred and sixty two parents of children about to transfer to secondary school were interviewed with the objective of revealing the contextual factors underlying the patterns and trends of pupil movements identified in the course of the GIS analysis. The practice and outcomes of parental choice were examined at four scales: the parent, the neighbourhood, the school and the LEA Area. Whilst the main value of this thesis lies in its presentation of empirical evidence of the socio-spatial outcomes of school choice, the results are placed in the context of relevant theoretical perspectives. The study finds that the proportion of children transferring to out-of-catchment secondary school has increased between 1991 and 1995 but that any increase in parental choice is constrained by a variety of factors that interact in complex ways to produce substantial socio-spatial variation in its expression. It is concluded that policy and practice relating to school choice can substantially affect educational equity and efficiency. It is recommended that the operation of local education markets be more closely monitored by LEAs and that GIS analysis, as used in this study, is an important tool for this purpose.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (M. G. I. S.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

This thesis draws upon poststructuralist theory, case study methodology, and multiple research methods to explore children’s representations of distant places, particularly African places such as Ghana. It investigates the ways in which a particular group of children’s representations of Ghana can be understood as exemplifying an ‘exoticist’ way of thinking explored by Edward Said in his seminal studies Orientalism (1978) and Culture and Imperialism (1993), and it explores how and to what extent these representations shifted over the course of a unit of geography teaching on Ghana. The research agenda presented here thus focuses (as Said puts it) on the ‘ideas, ... forms, ... images and imaginings’ of contemporary geographies of otherness, and considers geography education furthermore as a form of ‘struggle over geography’ in which different approaches to distant places come into contact, with some approaches becoming more dominant than others. The findings from this thesis therefore help to illuminate contemporary challenges in geographical education regarding distant places, and African distant places in particular.

To succeed in today'­s globalized world, it is important to understand the places and cultures outside our own. Yet despite the acknowledged need for and importance of a greater understanding of the world, various surveys assessing geographic knowledge have demonstrated the geographic ignorance of people in the U.S. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of geographic literacy among undergraduate college students and to investigate factors that may influence geographic literacy. An on-line survey, adapted from the National Geographic/Roper 2002 Global Geographic Literacy Survey, was administered to a sample of undergraduate students at Virginia Tech. The survey included a geography "quiz" to assess knowledge of geography and world events and a background section to collect information about various factors that may influence the participants' geographic literacy. Over 400 students participated in the study. The data were statistically analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests for differences in means. Contrary to much of the previous research, the participants in this survey demonstrated a good level of geographic knowledge. The mean score of the geography "quiz" was 81 percent. Some of the factors found to have influence on the scores were gender, international travel, major, fulfillment of Virginia Tech's Area 7 requirement, frequency of news media access, and type of news accessed. Age, academic class, GPA, residency status, junior/high school geography classes, international friends, and knowledge of foreign languages were found to have little or no influence." / Master of Science

Global citizenship education is becoming increasingly appreciated in Ontario as an important component of formal schooling. Although all disciplinary areas have a role to play in global citizenship education, geography, which is primarily concerned with the study of people, places, and environments at home and around the world, provides an especially important context in which to foster the values and attitudes often cited as important for global citizenship. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe how seven secondary students in the province of Ontario make meaning of global citizenship through geography education. More specifically, this study investigates the way that Grade 12 students, who had recently completed the course titled, “Canadian and World Issues: A Geographic Analysis”, conceive of the concept of global citizenship, value its importance, and experienced its values within this course. Qualitative data was collected through an analysis of the course curriculum and though interviews with seven students. The interviews revealed four themes that were most apparent in how the students conceptualized global citizenship: global awareness, belonging, caring, and commitment to action. It was revealed that the students’ personal involvement with the issues being studied helped them learn to be global citizens, as did the rich discussions of global issues they experienced in class. Careful analysis of both the students’ conceptions of global citizenship and how they experienced global citizenship in the curriculum revealed an uncritical perspective – one which emphasizes acts of charity and volunteerism rather than a commitment to social justice. In examining the participants’ perceptions of the value of global citizenship education as part of the curriculum, it was clear participants felt this was an important feature of geography education. In fact, since their perception was that they experienced global citizenship in this course exclusively, they attributed great value to the course and to geography education more generally. Overall, the findings are valuable to both teachers and teacher candidates seeking to better engage their students in global issues and equip them with global thinking strategies, and to curriculum developers wishing to effectively incorporate issues and topics concerning global citizenship within school curricula. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-30 16:23:30.774

<p> Females, in this modern age of feminism, have excelled in all fields of study and graduate from college in larger numbers than males. However, few women go into the STEM fields (Hill, Corbett, &amp; St. Rose, 2010). To close this gap in mathematics-related fields, it is paramount that high schools produce female students who are advanced in Mathematics. The problem was the underrepresentation of females in mathematical fields of study, with a more pressing issue of underrepresentation of females in college preparatory mathematics classes at the high school level. The purpose of this study was to determine if the geographical region of a high school contributed to the resulting ratio of males to females enrolled in college level mathematics courses. In this mixed methods study, 21 urban, 14 suburban, and 30 rural public school districts in Missouri, were selected and the ratio of males to females enrolled in Calculus for each district was obtained. The researcher's rationale for this comparison was that the culture of each geographical region created bias affecting females' choice in their fields of study. </p><p> The research question was: Does the ratio of males to females differ between urban, rural, and suburban high schools in advanced mathematics courses? Two types of analyses were applied in this study and obtained the following results. The data analyzed in the study did not support a difference in ratios when comparing urban, rural, and suburban schools, nor did it support a difference in male to female ratios enrolled in advanced placement coursework. The data did not support a relationship between the ratio of Calculus students and the district budget, but did yield a mild positive correlation when comparing the ratios of male to female students in Calculus and male to female mathematics teachers. </p><p> Historically, lower enrollment of women in the STEM fields than males is a trend supportable by the findings of this study. In rural and suburban areas there were fewer females than males enrolled in advanced mathematics. However, in the urban areas a slight difference yielded more females than males enrolled in similar coursework.</p>

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-81).