About project
Titel of project: Visual geographical information and its role in geography teaching and learning (GA ČR No. 16-01003S)
Project duration: 2016–2018
Participating institutions:
Department of Geography (J. E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem),
Institut of Research in School Education (Masaryk University Brno)
The project explores the role of visual information in geography education. Visual geographical information represents a key component of geography teaching and learning. It is used as a image/non-verbal representation, which intermediates geographical data and geographical phenomena in various degrees of abstraction. Although pupils find working with visual geographical information attractive, there is a serious lack of research on pupils´ educational preferences and needs as well as on the quality of visual geographical information in educational media.
The purpose of the project is to:
1) identify key characteristics of geographical visual information (illustration, photograph, map, chart, table etc.) that support geographical knowledge acquisition,
2) investigate what types and features of geographical visual information do lower secondary school pupils prefer and use in the process of geographical knowledge acquisition,
3) find out/to explain what qualities of visual geographical information are incorporated in Czech geography textbooks and school atlases,
The cooperation of the workplaces is essential for the project; one of them is specialized in specialized geographic education (Department of Geography, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University) and the other in research in the field of education (Institute for Research in School Education, Masaryk University). While the Department of Geography, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, provides the geographic background of the project, i.e. the specialization in geography, including its specifics, the team members from Masaryk University are in charge of the pedagogical level of the project, i.e. the methodology of the survey itself among primary school pupils.
