Abstract:

In today’s era of unlimited access to information (and misinformation), the role of a geography teacher is to be able to argue and explain geographical phenomena and relationships using specific examples based on reliable sources. A teacher should not merely pass information on to students but should be able to explain it, justify it, and support it with different types of arguments. In addition to commonly used statistical data or scientific articles, geography teachers should also be able to work with satellite images, which are becoming increasingly accessible. Teaching and training future teachers during their university studies are therefore crucial for their future professional practice.

Master’s students in the teaching program were, within the didactic course Modern Trends in Geography Education, confronted with questions focused on different forms of argumentation, with special emphasis on the use of satellite imagery. The students identified statistical data as the main argumentative tool, giving it consistently high ratings in terms of availability and usefulness. In contrast, their responses regarding satellite imagery were more diverse. Using the online tool Mentimeter, a discussion about their answers was held directly during class. Afterwards, the Copernicus Browser platform, its tools, and its capabilities were introduced to them.

The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze the attitudes of future teachers toward working with Copernicus satellite images, based on their personal experience in creating teaching materials for secondary school students. Their task was to prepare case-study materials using satellite imagery on various topics (deforestation, urbanization, floods, global warming, glacier melting, air pollution, etc.). After completing the training, students created 23 teaching materials—case studies—which they presented to one another during class. Finally, they identified the strengths and weaknesses of using satellite imagery.

The students concluded that the time required to search for and process satellite images was the biggest barrier; however, they appreciated their broad range of applications. Working with satellite imagery improved their ability to argue when explaining geographical phenomena, as well as their digital skills. On the other hand, some students experienced difficulties working with the Copernicus Browser environment or misinterpreted satellite images.

In their final evaluation, students expressed the most positive response to the statement that obtaining information from satellite images is not difficult. They also agreed that satellite imagery is a useful tool and that they will definitely use it in their teaching practice when creating their own learning materials. However, they would also appreciate having access to ready-made teaching materials effectively utilizing satellite imagery, which they could easily work with thanks to the experience gained in this course.

Therefore, the creation of teaching materials using satellite imagery should not primarily be the responsibility of primary and secondary school teachers; rather, they should be able to find, use, and interpret such materials. Support for developing these resources should come from scientific and university institutions and projects focused on this field, or from the commercial sector.

Keywords:

Geography, satellite images, pre-services teachers, argumentation.