Publication details
Image of Geography from the perception of students: what influences it and its consequences
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Geography as a school subject, despite its synthetic and interconnected nature, is facing disinterest from pupils and its position in the curriculum is beginning to be questioned. Globally, we can observe a decline in the number of hours of geography taught in schools, and the Czech Republic is no exception. According to recent findings, only 58% of Czech pupils enjoy geography and only half of the students find geography an interesting subject (CSI, 2019). This article explores the current state of geography from the students' perspective and what influences it. The image of geography is defined within the social construction of reality theory (Berger & Luckmann, 1991) and postfeminist theories that trace the perception of an undervalued group seeking 29 of 65 a voice. The main factors were identified in a systematic review (Korvasova, 2021) and consist of the usefulness of geography, the teacher, teaching methods, family background, and achievement. This paper presents the findings of a questionnaire survey conducted in the first quarter of 2023 among 1% of Czech lower secondary students in grades 8 and 9 (13-15 years old). The data shows that the decisive factor is the teacher and his/her personality. Which is closely related to the usefulness of geography. It shows that if students can relate things to everyday life, they are more interested, and their image of geography is higher. The study gives insight into the issues of conceptualizing geography teaching to make it more relevant to the needs of the Anthropocene and today's students. |
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