The Global Landscape of GIS in Secondary Education

Developing trainee teacher practice with geographical information systems (GIS)

“…GIS has been used within higher education (HE) contexts almost since its inception; however, its use in secondary schools did not start until the early 1990s (Kerski et al, 2013) when it began, particularly in the US, to be considered a tool which had the potential to develop students' engagement with technology (Goodchild & Kemp, 1990;Lemberg & Stoltman, 2001). Kerski et al (2013) argue that the rapid increase in GIS use in some global secondary school contexts since then is due mainly to the perceived benefits it provides.…”

“…Kerski et al (2013) argue that the rapid increase in GIS use in some global secondary school contexts since then is due mainly to the perceived benefits it provides. Bednarz (2004) summarises these by outlining what she identifies as three competing yet complementary justifications for incorporating GIS into secondary school education:…”

“…Bednarz, 2004;Kerski et al, 2013;Bearman et al, 2016). In any case, in England the use of GIS in school geography is not something which will go away.…”

“…In any case, in England the use of GIS in school geography is not something which will go away. The 2014 National Curriculum for Geography in England 1 , one of only a few globally which integrates GIS (Kerski et al, 2013), states that pupils should "interpret a range of sources of geographical information, including ... using GIS to view, analyse and interpret places and data" 1 The National Curriculum for Key Stage 3 is mandatory for all maintained schools in England.…”

“…Despite this, geography teachers often shy away from engaging with GIS in their classrooms (Kerski et al, 2013); it can be seen as being too technically complex, too difficult to integrate into an already busy curriculum, too time-consuming to produce resources for or simply impossible to do in departments with limited access to computers (e.g. Höhnle et al, 2015).…”