Learning Progressions in Geography Education: International Perspectives PDF
Preview Learning Progressions in Geography Education: International Perspectives
International Perspectives on Geographical Education Osvaldo Muñiz Solari Michael Solem Richard Boehm Editors Learning Progressions in Geography Education International Perspectives International Perspectives on Geographical Education Series editors Clare Brooks, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK Joop van der Schee, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands This series is under the editorial supervision of the International Geography Union’sCommissiononGeographicalEducation.Ledbytheprioritiesandcriteria set out in the Commission’s Declaration on Geography Education Research, the seriesplaysanimportantroleinmakinggeographyeducationresearchaccessibleto the global community. Publications within the series are be drawn from meetings, conferences and symposiums supported by the Commission. Individual book editors are selected for special editions that correspond to the Commission’s ongoingprogrammeofworkandfromsuitablesubmissionstotheserieseditors.In this way, research published represents immediate developments within the international geography education community.The series will also seek tosupport thedevelopmentofearlycareerresearchersinpublishinghighquality,highimpact research accounts. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15101 ñ Osvaldo Mu iz Solari Michael Solem (cid:129) Richard Boehm Editors Learning Progressions in Geography Education International Perspectives 123 Editors Osvaldo MuñizSolari Richard Boehm Department ofGeography Texas State University Texas State University SanMarcos, TX SanMarcos, TX USA USA Michael Solem American Association of Geographers Washington, D.C. USA ISSN 2367-2773 ISSN 2367-2781 (electronic) International Perspectives onGeographical Education ISBN978-3-319-44716-2 ISBN978-3-319-44717-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-44717-9 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016947947 ©SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2017 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission orinformationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfrom therelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinor foranyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade. Printedonacid-freepaper ThisSpringerimprintispublishedbySpringerNature TheregisteredcompanyisSpringerInternationalPublishingAGSwitzerland Preface Building a Foundation for International Collaborative and Comparative Research on Geography Learning Progressions Since 2013 the National Center for Research in Geography Education has been leadingaprojectknownasGeoProgressionsinanefforttobuildcapacitytoconduct researchonlearning progressionsinthecontextofU.S. geographyeducation.One of the major outcomes of GeoProgressions was the publication Learning Progressions for Maps, GeospatialTechnology,and Spatial Thinking:AResearch Handbook (Solem et al. 2015), which offers an introduction to learning progres- sionsandexamplesoftheirapplicationsinthecontextofspatialcognitionresearch. Drawingprincipallyupontheworkofmath,science,andgeographyeducatorsin the U.S., Learning Progressions for Maps, Geospatial Technology, and Spatial Thinkingpresentsamethodologyforresearchinghowstudentsdevelopincreasingly complex and sophisticated understandings of fundamental geographic and spatial concepts along with the development of their cognitive learning capacities. Informationofthisnaturemaywellassistgeographersseekingawayofcalibrating instruction to draw out what students know about spatial relationships, assess how they perceive spatial information, and help them successively build upon prior knowledgetoreachmorecomplexlevelsofspatialawarenessandcognitiveability. Geography learning progressions have significant potential to assist administrators and teachers by providing evidence of students’ conceptual understanding of disciplinary content. Thebroaderliteratureonlearningprogressionsoffersmanyexamplesthatmight serve as potential models for geographers seeking to conduct studies on learning progressionsinrelationtootherdomainsofgeographicknowledgeasexpressedin Geography for Life: U.S. National Geography Standards (Heffron and Downs 2012).Initsreviewofthisliterature,GeoProgressionsillustratedtheimportanceof thinking about learning processes in terms of “grain size,” that is, the relative breadth or depth of a progression in knowledge and thinking. v vi Preface Dimension Simple Complex Question is closely defined with Question is open with multiple two-three potential answers potential answers Data set is small Data set is large Students define data set Instructional context Data set is limited to Data set includes both appropriate appropriate data and inappropriate data Detailed scaffolds Moderate scaffolds No scaffolds Claims are defended Claims are defended Claims are defended with evidence with evidence, and reasoning Counterclaims are NOT rebutted Counterclaims ARE rebutted Argumentative product Claim addresses question asked Claim addresses question asked with a casual account Component (i.e. evidence, Component (i.e. evidence, reasoning, reasoning, rebuttal) is appropriate rebuttal) is appropriate and sufficient Claims are articulated, Claims are articulated, Claims are articulated, defended, questioned or defended, questioned, defended, questioned, evaluated AND evaluated evaluated, and revised Argumentative Student participation in Teacher and students Students spontaneously process argumentative share responsibility for engage in discourse is prompted prompting the argumentative by their teacher argument discourse Fig.1 Alearningprogressionforscientificargumentation(BerlandandMcNeill2009).Themore darklythecellsareshaded,themorecomplexthestudents’workonthatcharacteristic Take, for example, Leema Berland and Katherine McNeill’s learning progres- sion for scientific argumentation (Fig. 1). This learning progression conceives a process of scientific argumentation in three dimensions, each having a linear gra- dient ranging from simple to more complex. Without prescribing disciplinary content or context, Berland and McNeill outline a coarsely grained progression showing hypothetical relationships between the instructional support provided to students as they think and reason with data, make claims and rebuttals, and draw conclusions about cause and effect. For geographers, Berland and McNeill’s learning progression might suggest a means of engaging students in a process of geographic inquiry and reasoning. It would be up to the geography educator to refine this progression by defining the qualities of the geographic questions, data, evidence, pedagogies, and communi- cation techniques at play in the process of scientific argumentation. Thisdoes,however,raiseaspecterwithingeographyeducation:howdependent isthisparticularlearningprogressiononstudents’priorknowledge?Inotherwords, towhatextentcanapersonengage inscientificargumentation withoutfirsthaving foundational knowledge in a discipline? One might be able to think and deliberate inverycomplexterms,andyet,stillreachinvalidorinaccurateconclusionsbecause of inappropriate methods, faulty assumptions, and limited knowledge about a Preface vii problemanditscontext.Whilethedebateonthetopicoftherelationship,causalor correlational, among knowledge creation capacities and chronologies is expected, thisbookmaintainsafocusonpractical,experiential,andconceptualdiscussionsof learning progressions within geography education. Further theoretical research is neededtoformulateunderstandingsanddebatesabouthowknowledgecreationand foundational learning are interrelated, especially within geographic education. Onemayconsiderthedesignofalearningprogressionthatmodelsaprogression based on both content knowledge and scientific thinking process (Fig. 2). In this example, the learning progression presents a hierarchical portrayal of the scientific concept of biodiversity, with content progressing from foundational knowledge (i.e., knowing and being able to explain the difference between a plant and an animal)towardaconceptualunderstandingofwhatconstitutesbiodiversityinterms of richness species and taxa and abundance (Songer et al. 2009). This relatively fine-grained content progression is aligned with a more coarsely grained B5. An area has high biodiversity if it has both high Complex richness (taxon or species diversity) and high abundance. Students construct a scientific explanation B4. Biodiversityis a measure of the number and variety of consisting of a claim, evidence, and reasoning different organisms in a particular area (habitat, ecosystem, or biome, so scale dependent). Biodiversity combines which links the two, without any prompts or abundance and richness. guidance. B3. Richness and abundanceare two different measures of Construction draws on a substantial amount of the amount of animal life in a habitat or area. Abundanceis additional (not given) content knowledge in the total number of each kind of animal in the habitat, order to, for example, determine salient richnessis the number of kinds of animals in an area. (You irrelevant evidence and to justify claim through need a classification system to be able to measure the variety of organisms) scientific reasoning. E7. You can connect the plants and animals in a habitat into a web of eating relationships, a food web. Because many animals rely on each other, a change in the # of one species (especially the elimination of one species) can affect many different members of the web Intermediate E5. Trophic relationships between organisms can be Students construct a simple explanation using diagrammed as a food chain, a linking of predators and prey. prompts or partially completed explanations to E4. An animal that eats another organism is a predator, the guide, for example, the development of a claim organism that it eats is called its prey. A parasite eats only a and the use of relevant evidence. part of another organism and doesn’t kill it. The organism (plant or animal) that a parasite feeds on is the host. Construction draws on a moderate amount of content knowledge. E3. Most animals use particular kinds of organisms for food. Some general groups are herbivores,carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers. E2. Organisms can be divided into producers(those that make their own food) and consumers(those that use other organisms or their remains as food). B1. A habitatis a place that provides food, water, shelter, and space for living things. Minimal C5. Organisms are grouped based on the structures they Students match relevant evidence to a given have in common. This is called classification. claim. C4. Organisms (animals) have different features that they No extra content knowledge is required. use to survive in different habitats. There are observable internal and external differences (some fly, some have scales, fur, wings, live in the water, etc.). Some of these differences are used to distinguish major groups. C3. Plants and animals differ in the types of observable structures they have and what function those structure have. A: Content Progression for Biodiversity B: Inquiry Reasoning Progressionfor Building Evidence-based Explanations Fig. 2 Learning progression for evidence-based explanations about biodiversity (Songer et al. 2009) viii Preface progression of what constitutes as simple to more complex qualities of scientific reasoning about biodiversity. Although Songer et al. (2009) learning progression is an attempt to meld the relationship between knowledge and thinking in a process of making evidence-based explanations, there is very limited empirical research on whether such a tool, developed for a relatively “vertical” science such as biology, will be useful for investigations of learning processes in relation to geographical subject matter,suchasurbanenvironments,culturallandscapes,socialjustice,oreconomic interdependence.Theseandmanyothertopicsdonotconstituteaclearhierarchical arrangement (progression) of knowledge that may constitute a prerequisite for reaching more complex levels of conceptual understanding and higher cognitive thinking.SolemandLambert(2015)addressthisandothercautionaryassumptions in their concluding chapter to Learning Progressions for Maps, Geospatial Technology, and Spatial Thinking: A Research Handbook. Despitetheaforementioneduncertainties,learningprogressionsareattractingthe interest of geography educators if for no other reason than the potential of this research field to generate empirical knowledge of student learning. Additionally, therearealsomanyinnovativepracticalvaluesoflearningprogressionsthatwarrant our attention. Practical Applications for Learning Progression Research in Geography Education It is clear that models for learning progression research are available in STEM disciplines, and that they are catching the eye of geography educators. One could argue that this type of research may be among the most valuable in the process of geography education despite complexities that will be difficult to understand and even more complicated to measure. For example, Berland and McNeill’s work uncovers thedilemma of “students’ prior knowledge” and how this single variable might call into question students’ ability to engage in argumentation. Now add to this the whole mosaic of students’ value components and the social context of learning with regard to variables, such as race, religion, politics, socioeconomic background, family structure, and cultural preconditioning, and there is a compli- catedmentalsetofconditionsthatwillnodoubtaffecthowstudentslearnconcepts and skills in any discipline. Nonetheless, it is in the student learning arena where learning progressions research may validate assumptions about a hierarchy of understanding geography, including how it is learned and, ultimately, within what stage of childhood development it may be more practical or effective to be learned and applied. Mastering this research process will take time. Geographers may be starting this newcourseinlearningprogressionsbehindscholarsinotherdisciplines,albeitwith gumption and determination to find a new way of teaching geography to future generations of students. Preface ix The Case in the United States Learning progressions research in geography education is of critical importance because it provides a unique understanding necessary for all of the other elements of teaching and learning in U.S. schools, components, such as instructional mate- rials (including textbooks), content standards, performance standards, and assess- ments. A research based scope and sequence for American geography education may represent the starting point for all other teaching and learning processes in K-12 schools. Such a research-based scope and sequence might reach university-level teacher training courses so that beginning and pre-service teachers face their initial jobs with adequate and sensible preparation. Geography educators are beginning to anticipate the 3rd edition of Geography for Life, national standards in geography in the U.S. While standards vary from state to state, Geography for Life is the opportunity for a national, research-based scope and sequence. Now is the chance for the profession to make practical research-based recommendations to curriculum developers about what and how students, at all grade levels, should learn geography. Teachers will pay closer attentiontothesestandards,ifitiswidelyknownthattheyhavebeenauthenticated in classrooms with students. Learning materials will be revised and teacher edu- cators, particularly those involved in certification programs, will use learning progressions in their teaching tool kits. While these comments apply to the U.S. system of teaching and learning, this volume clearly displays that the learning progression research challenge is similar in many of the other countries of the world. We can and do learn from each other. The Value of International Perspectives Learning progressions are having an impact on geography education worldwide, within diverse education systems pertaining to local, cultural and institutional policies, assessments, and curricula. The idea for publishing a book capturing internationalperspectivesongeographylearning progressionsaroseduringapanel session at the 2015 AAG Annual Meeting in Chicago, where researchers affiliated with the GeoProgressions project shared their work with the many international delegatesinattendance.Itsoonbecameapparentfromtheensuingdiscussionsthat the meaning of learning progressions varies, often considerably, from country to country. In some cases, a learning progression is understood to be a broad scope and sequence for a curriculum, taking the form of guidelines for teaching and learning disciplinary content, ideas, skills, and principles across primary and sec- ondary levelsofeducation.Elsewhere learningprogressionsaredefinedinrelation to a child’s cognitive development and thinking processes, often at a very fine-grained conceptual scale. In between this spectrum there are many other
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