TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of teacher agency in using GIS to teach sustainability
T2 - an evaluation of a lower secondary school story mapping GIS initiative in Ireland
AU - Brown, Sasha
AU - Küçük, Zerrin Dogança
AU - Rickard, Angela
AU - Lonergan, James
AU - Abernethy, Rachel
AU - McNerney, Lorraine
AU - McNerney, Eimear
AU - Foley, Ronan
AU - Behan, Avril
AU - Byrne, Aengus
AU - Essel, Bernard
AU - Ffrench, Jack
AU - Faull, Jonathan
AU - Cahalane, Conor
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - GIS
KW - StoryMaps
KW - Teacher agency
KW - teaching SDGs
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85161458579&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10382046.2023.2214044
DO - 10.1080/10382046.2023.2214044
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85161458579
SN - 1038-2046
VL - 33
SP - 56
EP - 71
JO - International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
JF - International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
IS - 1
ER -