The role of teacher agency in using GIS to teach sustainability: an evaluation of a lower secondary school story mapping GIS initiative in Ireland

Sasha Brown, Zerrin Dogança Küçük, Angela Rickard, James Lonergan, Rachel Abernethy, Lorraine McNerney, Eimear McNerney, Ronan Foley, Avril Behan, Aengus Byrne, Bernard Essel, Jack Ffrench, Jonathan Faull, Conor Cahalane

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of teacher agency for those who were trained in using an innovative Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach and incorporated GIS into their teaching. While national curricula increasingly emphasise STEM and sustainability approaches, there has been limited analysis of how teachers can bring new software, including GIS, and new approaches into the classroom. Through an evaluation of a teaching initiative “5*S: Space, Surveyors and Students–STEM and the Sustainable Development Goals” designed to bring GIS technology, satellite data, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into classrooms as activities and resources for teachers and students in Ireland, we examine how teachers can introduce new teaching strategies and platforms into their classrooms. In interviews and a focus group, teachers expressed eagerness for GIS teaching resources for the classroom and identified effective ways they were able to draw on their own teaching philosophy in introducing new concepts around sustainability and STEM education in the classroom. We argue that teacher agency and autonomy play an important role in the ability and development of teachers, departments, and schools to bring new approaches and GIS into the classroom, and we identify key learnings from teachers who were able to utilise the 5*S resources.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)56-71
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
Volume33
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024

Keywords

  • GIS
  • StoryMaps
  • Teacher agency
  • teaching SDGs

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