مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Geographic Information Sources and World Images in Their Mental Maps

Abstract :

Spatial perception of individuals from local environment to global environment shapes and varies based on cognitive structures composed via their experience in their mind. Mental maps is one of the tools that is being used to uncover the cognitive structures relevant to world geography. Mental map is a structure involving cognitive process that enables acquisition, storage, coding, recall and emendation on individuals’ information about local environment. The aim of the study is to determine world geography images of pre- service elemantary teachers via mental map and their information resources about world geography Survey method is used in this study. Using this method is thought to be appropriate for this study, because it is intended to determine study sample’s state of world images and geographic information sources. The sample of this study was chosen among junior students trained in pre-servise elementary teacher programme in Faculty of Fatih Education, Karadeniz Technical University. Survey for geographic information sources and mental maps for images related to world geography were used as data collection tools. Pre-service teachers’ mental maps were analyzed and scored based on categories developed from literature. To analyze the scores obtained from survey and mental maps with respect to different variables, SPSS programme were used. As a result of the study, pre- service elemantary teachers’ cognitive structures about world geography images in their mental maps and accuracy of them was determined and suggestions related to geographic information development were listed.