Using grounded theory to understand the recognition, reflection on, development, and effects of geography teachers’ attitudes toward regions around the world

ABSTRACT

This study attempts to illuminate the recognition, reflection, development, and effects of geography teachers’ attitudes toward regions around the world (ATRAWs) using Straussian grounded theory. A total of 194 concepts were categorized into 18 categories, and three types were identified. The findings of this study show that geography teachers recognize their ATRAWs as an important factor in geography teaching and attempt to develop them in more reflective and sophisticated directions. As a result, the teachers complemented their regional geography instructions, and some of them even engaged in activities to help them complement other geography teachers’ ATRAWs. These results are expected to generate meaningful discussions to encourage geography teachers’ growth and improve teacher-training methods in terms of geography teachers’ ATRAWs. Furthermore, the results imply the need to develop methods that encourage geography teachers’ drive and learning to refine their ATRAWs.

KEYWORDS:

• Geography teacher
• attitudes toward regions around the world (ATRAWs)
• region
• grounded theory
• teacher training

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean Government (NRF-2014S1A5B5A07038756). The study obtained research ethics approval from the Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung City, South Korea (CKU-15-01-0201).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Lee and Ryu (2015) develop these three items to measure students’ contextual, relativistic, reflective, and multilateral ATRAWs.

2. In grounded theory, research proceeds on the basis of research questions and not hypotheses or objectives (Eich, 2008).

3. Snowball sampling is frequently used in grounded theory research because it is useful for finding potential candidates who meet the three principles of participant sampling (Morse, 2007).

4. The first-class teacher qualification program is one of the most significant teacher-training courses in South Korea. This course is for teachers whose teaching career spans four to six years. A teacher who has completed it granted the first-class teacher certificate, which replaces the second-class teacher certificate that is granted when a pre-service teacher completes the pre-service training course (Kim & Kim, 2005).

5. In contrast, the Glaserian coding process consists of the following two types: substantive and theoretical coding (Cooney, 2010).

6. In the initial stage of the interviews, only 11 participants correctly understood the term “ATRAW”. However, the others understood the meaning of “ATRAW” after I explained the meaning.

Additional information

Funding

Korean Government [grant number NRF-2014S1A5B5A07038756].