Campus Location

Abilene Campus

Date of Award

Spring 5-6-2022

Document Type

Manuscript

Department

Teacher Education

Degree Name

Master of Education in Teaching and Learning

First Advisor

Dana Mayhall

Second Advisor

Andrew Huddleston

Abstract

Geography is often viewed as a subject that breeds a variety of perceptions by those who take it as a classroom subject. Understanding factors that influence these perceptions is a paramount aspect that many classroom teachers fail to consider. At the time of this study, the researcher was a graduate student completing a year-long clinical teaching placement. The researcher sought to understand what factors influence how students view the subject of geography. The aim of the study was to examine how students perceive their life experiences influencing their view of geography as an academic subject. For this study, the researcher collected data through the use of a survey, focus group interviews, document collections, and observations alongside field notes. Qualitative data was analyzed using the constant comparative method. The author found that common influences behind student perceptions of geography included travel, relationship to a geographic location, relevancy, worldview, and student interest.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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