Abstract
The potential of geographic information systems (GIS) for education is very significant. Previous research showed that teaching with GIS can help students improve a variety of (not only geographical) skills.
Specifically, students can learn how to acquire, process, analyse, evaluate, and present spatial information and thereby develop their spatial thinking. Despite its educational potential, the implementation of GIS in schools is still rather sporadic.
There are studies on the limits of GIS implementation in education separately related to lower and upper secondary school teachers, and pre-service teachers. Studies empirically investigating the difference in the perception of limits between these three groups of actors in education are sporadic.
However, it can be expected that there are differences between these actors in their perception of the limits associated not only with the level of education but also with various lengths of teaching experience. The present study focuses on two main research questions, "What are the limits of implementation geographic information systems (GIS) in lessons perceived by in-service and pre-service teachers?"; "Are there differences in the perception of limits between different actors in education?".
A two-round Delphi study was employed to answer this question. Delphi study is a research methodology that is used to elicit, distill, and determine the opinions of a panel of experts from a given field, and to seek consensus among the experts (Nworie, 2011).
In the first round of the Delphi study, respondents were presented with two open-ended questions. These questions, in addition to the identification of the perceived limit of GIS use, may indicate different perceptions of the definition of GIS.
In the second round, respondents were presented with a set of limits and asked to rank them based on their perception. The limits presented to respondents were not only based on the first round of the Delphi study but are supplemented by the findings of a previously conducted systematic review on limits of GIS implementation in lessons.
A total of 45 respondents from three different groups (15 participants from each group) were subjected to the study. The first group was pre-service teachers, the second group was lover secondary school teachers, and the third group was upper secondary school teachers.
The results of this research, along with the results of the mentioned systematic review, can be a useful basis for developing an appropriate GIS course for pre-service teachers and for lifelong courses of teachers' professional development.