DIGITAL GEOGRAPHY: CULTIVATING GEO-LITERACY OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THROUGH PHENOMENON-BASED LEARNING INTEGRATED WITH GIS

Abstract

          The present study aimed at 1) to cultivate Geo-literacy of Junior high school students. in order that 70% of the students achieved a 70%-level of geographical knowledge; and 2) to verify the students’ level of satisfaction with learning activities based on the Phenomenon-Based Learning (PhenoBL) in conjunction with Geographic Information System (GIS). The target group consisted of 30 grade-8 students from Classroom No. 2/11 at Nakorn Khon Kaen School during the second semester of the 2023 school year. Action Research procedures were applied to the study. Research instruments comprise 1) 9 lesson plans which took 18 instructional periods to complete, 2) the reflective tool which included post-lesson reports, learning management observation sheets, classroom observation reflection sheets, student interview forms, and end-of-cycle quizzes, and 3) the performance assessment instrument which included a geo-literacy test and a satisfaction questionnaire used for eliciting the students’ opinions for the learning activities. The findings showed that: 1) The 30 target-group students made an average mark of 27 out of 36 full marks (or 75% of the full marks), and 18 students or 60% of the group passed the prescribed criterion of 70% or better. However, when results of the quizzes made by the students at the end of the 3 cycles were analyzed by way of scrutinizing each students’ achievement score from answering quizzes at the end of each cycle, it was found that their mean achievement scores had been in the increase, respectively. This significantly evident that the students had made an impressive progress at the end of each cycle. 2) The students’ total satisfaction with the learning activities, was at the highest level (mean score = 4.69). However, when each aspect of their responses was scrutinized separately, if was found that learning media as applied to the learning activities was at the highest level of satisfaction. The next lesser levels of satisfaction as verified by the students included the usefulness, they gained from participating in the activities, the learning activities itself, and the aspect of organizing learning activities received the students’ lowest level of satisfaction.