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ERIC Number: ED156576
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978-Apr
Pages: 21
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
High School Images of Geography: A Search for Interpretation.
Hubbard, Raymond; Stoddard, Robert
Given that the subject matter of geography is commonly viewed as lacking definite character, form, and organization, this study was initiated as an attempt to evaluate the nature of the images high school students possess concerning the discipline of geography. Acquiring knowledge of these images is prerequisite to curriculum improvement attempts. A 30 item, Likert-type scale was given to 694 students in 15 Nebraska high schools. The items were constructed to ascertain the knowledge which students possessed about the subject-matter of geography, the value students placed upon geography, and their perceptions of the way geography is taught. When the mean score for each item was calculated it was found that most of the means clustered around the neutral point of 3.00. Since the means revealed little about the complexities of the interrelationships among the statements, a reduction of the statements was sought through principal component analysis. Five factors resulted but only one accounted for more than five percent of the common variance. The results suggest that high school images of geography, while they can be tentatively identified as being positive, nevertheless appear to be rather weakly formulated. Perhaps additional effort is required to convey the impression of a coherent geography discipline. (Author/BC)
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at meeting of the Association of American Geographers (New Orleans, Louisiana, April 9-12, 1978)