THE IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHY INFORMATION SYSTEM INTEGRATED TEACHING ON STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION TO LEARN GEOGRAPHY: A MIXED-METHODS EVALUATION STUDY

In 1988, Malaysia Ministry of Education introduced the integrated secondary school curriculum as a continuation from the curriculum changes initially utilized in the primary school. These changes have impacted the profile of Geography in the secondary school, with Geography becoming a compulsory subject at the lower secondary school level and as an elective subject at the upper secondary school level. As a result, fewer schools in Malaysia now offer Geography at the upper level. In 1999, the Ministry of Education also established the Smart School Program, which emphasizes the use of the technology tools as an important aid in learning and teaching. While there is potential to use new technological tools such as Geography Information Systems (GIS) in Geography, which has been demonstrated in other countries to increase students’ motivation for learning, the integration of ICT has been prioritized in Science, Mathematics, and English only. Consequently, Malaysian students in upper secondary school are shying away from studying Geography. Moreover, students who continue Geography studies, those who pass the exam are declining each year. Scholars have reported that Malaysian students are not motivated to study Geography and increasingly perceive it as a dry subject with little use of technology. This research applies concurrent triangulation mixed methods model to determine the effect of GIS integrated teaching on underachieving students’ motivation to learn geography in smart school, which is well known for being the most sophisticated and equipped with ICT facilities in the country. The quantitative data collected through a quasi-experimental design while the qualitative data were collected through classroom observation, students, and geography teachers’ interviews. The treatment groups included 44 students and a control group of 40 students. For the treatment group, a unit on the type and distribution of world vegetation was given with GIS-based lesson material. For the control group, the same subject matter was presented using the traditional teaching methods. The quantitative evaluation showed the motivation post-test mean score of experiment group student participants’ are significantly higher than control group student participants. This indicated the GIS integrated teaching method had a more significant effect on student participants’ motivation to learn Geography as compared to the traditional teaching methods. The qualitative evaluation based on classroom observation, students, and teacher participants’ interviews are consistent with quantitative findings. Thus, it is possible to draw overall conclusion that GIS integrated has positively impact the students’ motivation to learn Geography.