Assessment In Geographical Education An International Perspective

In recent years there has been increased attention paid to the importance of assessment in Geographical Education, the chosen subject for this book. Assessment is an important tool for collecting information about student learning and for providing timely data to inform key stakeholders including students, teachers, parents and policymakers. To be effective, assessment needs to be valid, reliable and fair. Validity is about ensuring that we assess what we claim we are assessing. Reliability is about measuring performance and understanding in a consistent way. Without validity and reliability, assessment is unlikely to provide equitable opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and can do. As geography educators it is therefore important that we identify the core concepts and skills in geography that we want students to master. We need a clear understanding of what the progression of learning looks like for each concept and skill so we can develop fit for purpose assessments that track and improve student learning. While there is a substantial literature on evidence-based assessment in secondary school contexts, research exploring best-practice assessment in geography is rare. This is a concern given the distinctive nature of geography and the important role of assessment in the learning process. This scholarly collection seeks to address this issue by connecting research in educational assessment with the domain of geography. The chapters are written by leading researchers in Geographical Education from across the globe. These chapters provide examples of innovation through the collective voices of geography teacher educator scholars from across Australia, USA, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and Singapore. What unifies the work in this book, is that each chapter focuses on a key feature of the discipline of geography, providing scholarly examples of evidence-based practices for assessing student’s knowledge and skills.

In recent years there has been increased attention paid to the importance of assessment in Geographical Education, the chosen subject for this book. Assessment is an important tool for collecting information about student learning and for providing timely data to inform key stakeholders including students, teachers, parents and policymakers. To be effective, assessment needs to be valid, reliable and fair. Validity is about ensuring that we assess what we claim we are assessing. Reliability is about measuring performance and understanding in a consistent way. Without validity and reliability, assessment is unlikely to provide equitable opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and can do. As geography educators it is therefore important that we identify the core concepts and skills in geography that we want students to master. We need a clear understanding of what the progression of learning looks like for each concept and skill so we can develop fit for purpose assessments that track and improve student learning. While there is a substantial literature on evidence-based assessment in secondary school contexts, research exploring best-practice assessment in geography is rare. This is a concern given the distinctive nature of geography and the important role of assessment in the learning process. This scholarly collection seeks to address this issue by connecting research in educational assessment with the domain of geography. The chapters are written by leading researchers in Geographical Education from across the globe. These chapters provide examples of innovation through the collective voices of geography teacher educator scholars from across Australia, USA, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and Singapore. What unifies the work in this book, is that each chapter focuses on a key feature of the discipline of geography, providing scholarly examples of evidence-based practices for assessing student’s knowledge and skills.

This book informs an international audience of teachers, scholars and policymakers about the development of learning progressions for primary and secondary geography education in various countries and regions of the world. The book represents an important contribution to learning progressions research and practice. The different chapters explore how curriculum standards and frameworks in different countries portray progress and sophistication in the learning of geography. The book compares educational systems and how teachers and curriculum developers use the concept of “learning progression” to guide educational practices. As an approach to educational research, learning progressions offer considerable potential for understanding how children develop understanding of geographic concepts and practices across grade bands and in relation to national geography standards. The book analyzes the general conditions of learning progressions within the context of a globalized world. Important themes are addressed such as: knowledge acquisition in formal education; measuring learning progressions in informal settings; learning progressions for one curriculum standard or several standards; conditions to assess progression in the learning of facts, concepts, and skills; and multiple pathways for understanding or learning geography. The contributing authors are experienced scientists in the field from all around the world giving specific insights into the practices of their countries. The book appeals to K-12 teachers, school administrators, policymakers, researchers in geography education, professors and lecturers at universities around the world.

This study aims to provide geography teachers with a critical analysis of the contemporary position of their subject, linked with practical advice on the teaching of developments relating to geography, such as new technology, the use of remote sensing and the implications of modern research.

This book results from the work of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union. Part 1 focuses on the distinctive traditions of school geography. Part 2 reviews the state of school geography on a broad continental basis, including national case studies by local experts. The final chapters extrapolate from the present and point to likely future developments in the subject, again with examples drawn from various countries.

Debates in Geography Education encourages early career teachers, experienced teachers and teacher educators to engage with and reflect on key issues, concepts and debates. It aims to enable readers to reach their own informed judgements with deeper theoretical knowledge and understanding. The second edition is fully updated in light of the latest research, policy and practice in the field, as well as key changes to the curriculum and examination specifications. Expert contributors provide a range of perspectives on international, historical and policy contexts in order to deepen our understanding of significant debates in geography education. Key debates include: geography's identity as an academic discipline; what constitutes knowledge in geography; places and regional geography; what it means to think geographically; constructing the curriculum; how we link assessment to making progress in geography; the contribution of fieldwork and outdoor experiences; technology and the use of Geographical Information; school geography and employability; understanding the gap between school and university geography; evidence-based practice and research in geography education. The comprehensive, rigorous coverage of these key issues, together with carefully annotated selected further reading, will help support and shape further research and writing. Debates in Geography Education is a key resource that is essential reading for all teachers and researches who wish to extend their grasp of the place of geography in education. Mark Jones is Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK David Lambert is Professor of Geography Education at UCL Institute of Education, London, UK

This volume brings together educational effectiveness research and international large-scale assessments, demonstrating how the two fields can be applied to inspire and improve each other, and providing readers direct links to instruments that cover a broad range of topics and have been shown to work in more than 70 countries. The book’s initial chapters introduce and summarize recent discussions and developments in the conceptualization, implementation, and evaluation of international large-scale context assessments and provide an outlook on possible future developments. Subsequently, three thematic sections – “Student Background”, “Outcomes of Education Beyond Achievement”, and “Learning in Schools” – each present a series of chapters that provide the conceptual background for a wide range of important topics in education research, policy, and practice. Each chapter defines a conceptual framework that relates recent findings in the educational effectiveness research literature to current issues in education policy and practice. These frameworks were used to develop interesting and relevant indicators that may be used for meaningful reporting from international assessments, other cross-cultural research, or national studies. Using the example of one particular survey (the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2015)), this volume links all theoretical considerations to fully developed questionnaire material that was field trailed and evaluated in questionnaires for students and their parents as well as teachers and principals in their schools. The primary purposes of this book are to inform readers about how education effectiveness research and international large-scale assessments are already interacting to inform research and policymaking; to identify areas where a closer collaboration of both fields or input from other areas could further improve this work; to provide sound theoretical frameworks for future work in both fields; and finally to relate these theoretical debates to currently available and evaluated material for future context assessments.