Assessment And Intervention Of The Impact Of Geographic Information Technology On Students’ Geographical Key Competences

Geographical key competences refer to the necessary skills that students need to possess in order to solve complex problems when facing challenges in the future society.Since the 21 st century,countries around the world have launched a wave of curriculum reforms based on "key competencies",including the development of essential geographical competencies for students in their national curriculum reform plans.Geographical information technology teaching has been widely applied as an important means to promote the development of students’ geographical key competencies.However,there are few studies that systematically evaluate the impact of geographical information technology on students’ geographical key competencies,and its effectiveness has not yet reached a consensus.Therefore,this study aims to systematically evaluate and test the effectiveness of geographical information technology on students’ geographical key competencies.The specific research content and conclusions are as follows:(1)Using meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of geographic information technology on students’ geographical key competencies.The study found that geographic information technology has a moderate level of positive effect on students’ key geographic competences,with the effect size ranked from high to low as spatial thinking ability,global awareness,and integrative thinking abilities.Based on this,the general mechanisms that affect the effectiveness of geographic information technology are revealed,including country/region,educational level,intervention period,and type of Geographic Information Technology.(2)This study focuses on integrative thinking abilities,constructs an evaluation index system,and develops an evaluation tool.Based on the key concepts,connotations,and features of geography,as well as the considerations of curriculum standards requirements,the theoretical model of integrative thinking abilities is established.According to the guiding principles of "based on the characteristics of geography","guided by geography curriculum standards",and "based on feasibility",an integrative thinking abilities evaluation index system is constructed.Based on this evaluation index system,an evaluation tool for integrative thinking abilities is developed,which includes 20 evaluation items.Finally,the evaluation tool is revised using the item response theory.The results of a one-dimensionality test,item and subject reliability,and the fit index of evaluation items all indicate that the integrative thinking abilities evaluation tool developed in this study is reliable and effective and can be used to measure students’ performance in integrative thinking abilities.(3)A mixed research method that combines quasi-experimental research and semistructured interviews was used to examine the effectiveness of geographic information technology on students’ integrative thinking abilities.Firstly,the quasi-experimental results showed that geographic information technology had a significant positive effect on the integrative thinking abilities of the experimental group students from both F and J schools.Secondly,the moderating results revealed that the intervention period was a moderating factor affecting the effectiveness of geographic information technology,and a long intervention period of 12 weeks had a significant positive effect on students’ integrative thinking abilities.Finally,subgroup analysis found that regardless of the short or long intervention period,geographic information technology had a small positive effect on students’ element integrative thinking abilities;a long intervention period had a significant positive effect on students’ spatiotemporal integrative thinking abilities,while a short intervention period had a moderate positive effect on students’ spatiotemporal integrative thinking abilities;a short intervention period had a significant promoting effect on students’ place integrative thinking abilities,while a long intervention period had a moderate positive effect on students’ place integrative thinking abilities.Semi-structured interview data supported the quasi-experimental research results.