Czech Student Attitudes towards Geography

Abstract

This study investigates 540 Czech lower secondary students’ attitudes towards geography. It examined the general influence of gender and grade level on attitudes towards geography with an emphasis on four specific areas in particular: geography as a school subject; geography and the environment; the importance of geography; and the relevance of geography lessons to pupils’ lives. The results suggest that grade level significantly influences attitudes towards geography, but gender does not. It also comments on drawbacks within the Czech curriculum that limit geography instruction.

Keywords:

• Czech Republic
• student attitudes
• geography instruction

Acknowledgment

We are very grateful for Eva Minarikova’s and James Marsh’s contributions to the improvement of the English language in this article. We would also like to thank Jerry Mitchell for his helpful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. The Velvet Revolution was a nonviolent revolution in Czechoslovakia. The mass demonstrations that followed on November 17, 1989, led to the resignation of the conservative Communist party and established democracy in Czechoslovakia. The removal of the party from its leading role allowed the country to create its first non-Communist government after forty-one years.

2. Czech schools are described differently than their American counterparts where elementary schools generally educate students aged five to ten.