Effects of the Use of Thinking Through Geography Strategies

Abstract

Expressing the desire that geography should be a more challenging subject that helps pupils to become better learners a group of academic geographers and geography teachers from northeast England developed teaching strategies to stimulate pupils to think through geography. Teachers in England and the Netherlands report that these strategies are very successful because they make pupils think and generate motivation. This contribution focuses on an experiment in three Dutch lower secondary school classes. Thinking Through Geography strategies were tested in a pre-test and post-test control group design. All the students worked enthusiastically with the strategies, but there were big differences in the results between the schools. One of the key factors seems to be the role of the teacher. Although Thinking Through Geography strategies may be challenging for teachers and students, much greater attention needs to be given to the type of support that is required to make the change lasting and deep rather than superficial.

Keywords:

• thinking skills
• geography teaching
• pedagogical content knowledge
• motivation
• debriefing