Effects of GIS learning on high school students’ spatial-cognitive abilities. A case study of three secondary schools in Johannesburg.
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Date
2018
Authors
Chipenda, Anne
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of GIS learning on high school students’ spatial
abilities. 61 grade 11 learners, 31 doing Geography as a subject and 30 not doing geography, took part
in the study. The learners, from three schools in Johannesburg, Parktown Boys High School, Parktown
School for Girls and Marist Brothers Linmeyer, completed a pre and post spatial skills test during the
first and third terms respectively, in 2017. Overall, the results showed a significant change from the
pretest to the post tests of students who had done GIS learning. However, there were no significant
differences between males and females. No significant differences were noted between students who
spoke English as a first language and those who did not speak English as a first language. Different
results obtained in the learners’ test results were examined; revealing that the GIS course had a
positive effect on students’ spatial abilities, and that there was a positive relationship between the
students’ spatial abilities and the outcome of their spatial skills tests. The students’ map drawing
strategies did change for students who did GIS learning from landmark to route or survey, and not
many changes were noticed for learners who did not do GIS learning. This showed that GIS learning
had an effect on map drawing strategies
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree Master of Science (Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing), Johannesburg 2018
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Citation
Chipenda, Anne (2019) Effects of GIS learning on high school students’ spatial-cognitive abilities. A case study of three secondary schools in Johannesburg, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, <http://hdl.handle.net/10539/27285>