Fostering students geographic systems thinking by enriching causal diagrams with scale. Results of an intervention study

Abstract

Several challenges faced by humanity, such as the world food problem, migration flows or climate change, are all taught about in geography courses worldwide. Behind these challenges are complex systems consisting of several interrelated causes and consequences. In order to better understand these highly complex geographical systems, a systems thinking approach is helpful. However, the spatial embeddedness of relations in a system is often not included in this approach. Although this spatial embeddedness is important to understand geographical systems, it also contributes to the complexity of systems. The aim of this study is to examine whether the enrichment of causal diagrams with spatial scales helps students to better understand these systems. A quasi experimental design with an intervention of four lessons and task-based think-aloud interviews is used. These results show that students who have used these enriched diagrams in class are more aware of the spatial embeddedness of relations and therefore achieve a higher level of geographical thinking. This study shows the potential of enriched causal diagrams to make them actively use this spatial component while processing information.

Keywords:

• Systems thinking
• causal diagrams
• spatial awareness
• geography education
• secondary education
• relational thinking

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank dr. Tim Favier (Utrecht University, The Netherlands), for his idea about the visualizations of the spatial scales in the diagrams, and his permission to use it (Favier, 2017). Furthermore, we are grateful for the help of Etienne Van Hecke, Lieve Slegers, Annelies Verstraelen, and Celina Van Dyck in designing the lesson series used in the intervention.