Search Results (53)

This study aims to identify students’ perceptions of the teaching strategy employed by teachers during the Geography teaching–learning process, given that the experimental group used Google Earth Pro. The research sample consisted of 229 participants. The research methods were surveys and statistical analysis. The research hypotheses were based on the following premises: the use of Google Earth Pro software could influence students’ perceptions differently in terms of its impact on their personal learning experience and the teaching strategy applied in the classroom as a whole; there could be an association between how students perceived Google Earth Pro software and the benefits of this digital tool as a learning aid and as an integral part of the teaching strategy. The research hypotheses were statistically validated using the statistical test for comparing proportions and means and the chi-square test—Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The research results highlighted statistically significant differences between the experimental group (B) and the control group (A) in most components of the teaching–learning–assessment strategy (method, learning tools and teaching resources used, student organization) but also in terms of students’ interest and motivation for learning Geography, the content taught, the targeted skills, and the time allocated by students to preparing for Geography lessons. GEP brings numerous benefits to the teaching–learning process of Geography, having a positive impact on: understanding the content taught, applying what has been learned and transposing it into a new context, making connections with other disciplines, critical thinking, consolidating prior knowledge, and improving STEM knowledge. Full article

The research aims to derive the positive and negative values and strange habits included in Ibn Battuta’s journey called “Tuhfat An-Nuzzar fi Ghara’ibal-Amsar wa-‘Aja’ib Al-Asfar” by Shams al-Din bin Abdullah al-Lawati, the Moroccan al-Tanji, known as Ibn Battuta (d. 1377 AD), presented and investigated by Ali al-Muntasir al-Katani (D.T), which was included in Ibn Battuta’s trip, to the peoples of the countries he visited on the African and Asian continents. A total of 440 respondents participated in the study: 195 teachers in the supplementary track and 245 fourth-year regular track students at an Arab College of Education from all disciplines: early childhood, Arabic language, science, mathematics and computer science, English language, and special education. The respondents were asked to select an enrichment text or a story of one or more pages from Ibn Battuta’s travels, with the aim of eliciting the positive and negative values and strange customs of the peoples and countries Ibn Battuta visited in Africa and Asia. The study results indicated that Ibn Battuta’s travelogue, “Tuhfat An-Nuzzar fi Ghara’ibal-Amsar wa-‘Aja’ib Al-Asfar,” is considered an important literary reference, rich with texts and stories from which we can deduce the values and customs of the people of the countries Ibn Battuta visited in Africa and Asia. Teachers can use this information for discussion and constructive dialogue with their students in schools, in various educational subjects such as social studies, religion, literature, Arabic language, history, and geography. Most of the study participants support the idea of integrating Ibn Battuta’s travelogue into various lessons. The study recommends the importance of integrating and expanding it to include other subjects in schools, colleges, and universities. This integration should be systematically built around various activities that achieve “meaningful learning,” ensure active student participation, and enhance value for the learner and society. In conclusion, I recommend conducting detailed studies and research on the educational values derived from travel literature. Full article

Ten years after the Paris Agreement the escalating global geopolitical turmoil and waning interest in climate change’s effects, posit cities again as critical arenas for addressing the global energy transition. Drawing on the concept of the city as a living entity, the role of energy at the urban scale is considered not only as a technical infrastructure but as a complex system embedded in the spatial, political, and social fabric. The energy transition is situated within the broader context of urban governance and spatial planning, arguing that energy should be considered a foundational urban good essential to everyday life and ensuring equitable development. The study adopts a conceptual and literature-based approach, synthesizing insights from urban studies, energy geography, and climate governance literature. Special attention is given to the Italian context, where a lack of coordination across European, national, and regional political levels hinders energy transition efforts. Key references include theoretical frameworks on urban metabolism, socio-technical systems, and planning innovation, focusing on the intersection of infrastructure, policy, and local agency. The findings highlight the need to reframe energy planning as an integral part of urban and territorial governance. While grounded in Italy, the study’s insights reveal how governance fragmentation and multi-level coordination barriers resonate with European urban energy challenges, offering transferable lessons for territories with complex political and spatial systems. This would help integrate energy concerns into urban design, reduce consumption through spatial organization, and foster civic and institutional cooperation for rapid, often unplanned local energy actions to respond more swiftly to crises than traditional planning mechanisms. As a result, embedding energy within urban policy and spatial design fosters co-evolution between energy production, behavioral change, and infrastructural transformation. Recognizing this is vital for global urban policy and planning to drive resilient, equitable transitions in a rapidly changing energy landscape. Full article

Integrated teaching encourages students to think across disciplines and view key human issues from various perspectives. Although mathematics and geography are taught as separate subjects in schools, they frequently intersect in real-world issues, with scientific problems often analyzed using mathematical methods. The purpose of this article is to systematically review the understanding of study characteristics, teaching content, and forms of integration between geography and mathematics. A systematic review of 26 studies was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines, involving searches of four databases from 2000 to 2023. Screening and selection were performed independently by two researchers. Data were analyzed via structured qualitative content analysis. This systematic review demonstrates that integrated teaching can improve knowledge and skills of students compared to segregated teaching. The findings reveal that contents such as Education for Sustainable Development, cartography, and astronomy and space travel are the main topics covered in subject-integrated mathematics and geography lessons. The study also highlights gaps, especially in long-term effects and teacher involvement in quantitative research. Full article

This study examines students’ perceptions of the subjects geography, mathematics, and computer science in integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) lessons. Although the importance of an integrated approach in STEM education is emphasized, researchers are not clear about whether students perceive connections between the subjects on the one hand and subject-specific working methods and content in integrated lessons on the other. Data was collected in an integrated teaching unit on the sustainability of apples using an open-ended digital questionnaire in to two ninth grade classes in Hamburg, Germany (n = 38); this data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results reveal that students perceive the subjects differently, but similarities can also be identified. While subject-specific content is perceived—such as the use of maps in geography, the calculation of volumes in mathematics, and Dijkstra’s algorithm in computer science—methodological connections, such as calculating, analyzing diagrams, or solving problems, are anchored across disciplines. This suggests that the subject-specific contents are not lost in integrating lessons, and that connections among the subjects are, to a certain extent, promoted. Full article

Creole writer Sidonie de la Houssaye (1820–1894) registered the threat of anglophone dominance after the Civil War on behalf of a host of characters drawn from the geographies and ideologies in and around her home in Louisiana. Her little-known literary tales depict the period as a cultural and linguistic border zone. In addition to the texture of Louisiana French and Creole heritage, the tales depict the vexed social dynamics of prejudice and fragility. In the context of this special issue on good and evil, the poorly known children’s tales offer insight into these pernicious tensions that persisted under the surface of moral victory after the Civil War. La Houssaye’s lessons for children take up the moral panic of a Louisiana reckoning with its legacies of racial violence and cultural erasure. This article argues that morality in these tales takes shape in interpersonal practices that can be learned to heal social ills. What I have called La Houssaye’s “ethics of social life” relies on education rather than condemnation to redefine human bonds. If a broader lesson emerges from the stories taken together, it suggests that structural change is slow to heal cultural wounds. We must ourselves be the agents of a healthier community. Full article

The 2024 cut-off low-pressure (DANA) event had a devastating impact on the province of Valencia (Spain), resulting in 227 fatalities. This extreme weather event highlighted the urgent need to enhance education on flood risk and prevention, particularly through geography lessons in schools. This paper presents a didactic experience conducted during the 2024–2025 academic year at a primary school in Alicante (Valencian Community, Spain), within the sixth-grade subject of “Natural, Social, and Cultural Environment Studies”. The initiative aimed to increase knowledge of the causes of flooding and safety measures, with a particular focus on the DANA event of 29 October 2024. Through hands-on and collaborative activities, the project sought to raise awareness of the importance of risk prevention and management. Ultimately, this educational approach aspires to foster a more resilient society, one that is better prepared to face the challenges posed by current and future climate change scenarios. Full article

The present study investigates the influence of peer coaching on the depth of reflection on the content of digital games in geography education. The results show that the combination of a reflection diary and reflection coaching in the debriefing session significantly increases the depth of reflection at different levels. In particular, students were able to formulate more precise and critical statements at the level of comparison between the game world and reality, as well as at the level of self-reflection. Working in tandem and targeted questions from the trainers proved to be key success factors in promoting depth of reflection. The study shows the importance of combining written and oral reflection after using digital games and provides impetus for integrating digital games and reflection methods into the classroom. Full article

The flipped classroom is a blended learning model that combines metacognitive activities in classrooms with the independent exploration of low cognitive levels outside of school using digital platforms such as videos, slides, articles, and class notes. The subject of research includes the study of the innovative approach of the flipped classroom model in the teaching of geography. The goal of this research is a deeper understanding and evaluation of the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model in the teaching of geography to Year seven elementary school students in the Republic of Serbia in the context of scholarly success. The study used an experimental design, with random assignment across six classes. A total of 192 students participated in the research in both schools. For the purposes of research, a post-knowledge acquisition test was given to students. The results of the research showed that there is a difference in average grades using the flipped classroom. Approximately 8.33% of students in the experimental group received the highest grade of 5, compared to just 3.65% in the control group. Namely, it was shown that male students achieved slightly better results compared with female students but with no statistically significant difference. Suggestions for future research are that geography teachers can record more lessons over a longer period with more teaching activities. Full article

This study applies a systems analysis to further our understanding of the many pathways linking climate stress to human (im)mobility and interpersonal violence via natural resource stress within eight countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sudan) across the Sahel region. To illustrate the multiple pathways within the climate–(im)mobility–violence–health nexus, contextual and conceptual systems maps were drawn out based on secondary qualitative data from 24 peer-reviewed journal articles selected from a search result of 394 publications. Even though the geography, environment, socio-political context, traditions, and cultural history were highly diverse, the overarching factors that determined people’s (im)mobility and health outcomes, in association with natural resource stress and violence, were very similar. These vulnerability pathways included gendered immobility, interpersonal conflict, and lack of social protection, which provide important lessons and offer tangible opportunities for policy interventions. The vulnerability pathways often eroded access to natural resources and positive (im)mobility and (mental) health outcomes, which ended up entrapping people in extended cycles of violence and exploitation—especially certain intersectional positions and disadvantaged groups (whether within a household, society, or country). Full article

The study on which the article is based investigates which learning strategies multilingual pupils use when using a multimedia and multilingual media offer in geography lessons and how these influence their subject-related learning success. By way of introduction, the potential of multilingualism for geography lessons is presented theoretically and with reference to neurobiology. A multimedia and multilingual learning platform was developed for the study and trialled in geography lessons. The pupils’ usage strategies were recorded using screen recordings and sound-thinking protocols and mapped in a differentiated way in a model. The most common usage strategies that can be observed include “reversion”, i.e., processing the same information medium first in one language and then again in another, the use of reading strategies, multilingual notetaking, the use of image and map information, bundling information and structured summarising. These utilisation strategies show a positive influence on learning outcomes. Full article

This study reconstructs the agricultural landscape of the southern coastal plain of late Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine (today southwestern Israel) utilizing late 19th and early 20th century cartographic materials and aerial photographs. Immense human effort and ingenuity were required to maintain sustainable agricultural on the fringes of the desert. Given today’s increasingly severe climate crisis, the lessons drawn from these historical agricultural practices have particular resonance. The agricultural land use described in this work extended into the coastal dunes of the region where the shallow water table was exploited to create complex agricultural systems that enabled the growth of citrus trees, grapes, and other crops for export and trade. Aerial photos and maps reveal the critical aspects of this region’s neglected agricultural history. The stability and resilience of these systems, some of which are still in existence 76 years or more after they were abandoned, as seen in the survey conducted for this study, point to the importance of understanding and preserving this chapter of the region’s agricultural heritage. The unique varieties of fruit trees adapted to the local climate of the western Negev still have significant economic value and are threatened with extinction from rapid urban encroachment. The remnants of this tradition serve as historical testimony of a bygone agricultural era which was replaced by mechanized monoculture. The discussion centers on the ways n which the study of heritage agriculture in rapidly changing areas can contribute to the broader field of historical geography by reconstructing landscapes that preserve the knowledge and societal patterns of behavior of past communities for future generations. Full article

In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant stay-at-home mandates, local governments in some cities in the United States implemented programs in response to the pandemic. This article focuses on Slow Streets, which were several programs implemented in eleven cities (Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Boston, and New York) in the United States. The programs were intended to keep people healthy by providing temporary public spaces on residential roads where residents were allowed to exercise and socialize. Some practitioners characterized the programs as tactical urbanism or tactical placemaking and as agile responses to the public health crisis. The programs deserve a critical reflection, considering their potential impact on community health and the limited amount of the literature on the program in terms of design justice, which is an approach to design that prioritizes marginalized communities and challenges their structural inequality. This reflective study attempts to fill that gap in the literature of architecture and urban design. This article aims to examine whether the Slow Streets programs promoted design justice. To address that aim, we propose a social justice framework to evaluate the program, because social justice is essential to design justice. Data from publicly available information online about the eleven cities’ Slow Streets programs, interviews, surveys, focus groups, and the interdisciplinary literature support the qualitative research. The study outcomes suggest that the Slow Streets program had limited success because their attention to the priorities of underserved populations was ineffective. We argue that while the programs provided a timely response to the pandemic, the programs did not adequately address the vulnerability of low-income communities of color due to the limited consideration of design justice. Building on the lessons from social justice and human geography, the article concludes with recommendations for future practices including place-cultivating and human geography-informed design to better serve vulnerable communities of color. Full article

Virtual learning environments (VLEs) in physical geography education offer significant potential to aid students in acquiring the essential skills for the environmental interpretation of glacial and periglacial environments for geoscience careers. Simulated real-world field experiences aim to help the student evaluate landscapes for natural hazards, assess their intensity, and translate and communicate this information to various stakeholders in human systems. The TREE-PG framework and VRUI model provide a philosophical and practical foundation for VLE architects, aiming to cultivate students’ knowledge, skills, and identity as geoscientists, specifically as physical geographers and geomorphologists. These frameworks emphasize the importance of translating scientific knowledge from physical features into engaging, accessible online lessons, exemplified by landscapes like those in Glacier National Park, Montana. Open-source software and open educational resources (OERs) can broaden access and incorporate diverse perspectives in these experiences, which are necessary to address the impacts of vulnerable communities to global deglaciation. Designing and creating virtual proxies of field-based education may help address issues associated with inclusion and belonging within geoscience disciplines to connect all students with dynamic physical environments beyond the classroom. Ethical AI approaches and discipline-specific repositories are needed to ensure high-quality, contextually accurate VLEs. AI’s tendency to produce output necessitates using domain-specific guardrails to maintain relevance and precision in virtual educational content. Full article

Cities worldwide are facing varying degrees of ongoing threats closely tied to climate change. Research is emerging that addresses climate risks as a pressing issue, especially for vulnerable cities in the Global South; however, there is a significant lack of systematic and application-oriented research on ecosystem-based adaptation to urban climate change. This study uses Shenyang in Northeast China as a case study, employing multisource data and integrated methods to examine and depict the dynamics of urban ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change amid rapid urbanization. The results indicate a decline in capacity for climate change adaptation during the study period. A framework for mainstreaming ecosystem-based adaptation is proposed, identifying specific strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban policy and planning processes in Shenyang. It also has significance for other cities to draw lessons from. By linking urban ecosystem dynamics, the capacity for urban climate adaptation, and sustainable urban governance, this study bridges the gap between research and practice in urban climate change adaptation, and expands the contribution of geography-based interdisciplinary integration to urban resilience. More practically, it provides references for Shenyang in adapting to climate change and transitioning to sustainable development. Full article