The evaluation of geographical inquiry skills in geography education

Geographical inquiry is both a skill, a process and a teaching approach. The starting point of geographic inquiry is key questions that include basic geographic concepts. Geographical inquiry begins with the key questions and ends with both students and teachers evaluating what they have learned/taught and how they have learned/taught. Geographical inquiry entered our country for the first time with 2005 GC as a geographic inquiry skill. The teachers continue to teach their students the geographic inquiry skills by carrying out various studies from this date on. From this point of view, the aim of the study is to evaluate the secondary education 9-12th grades students' geographic inquiry process skills. Firstly, a measurement tool has been developed to determine the secondary education 9-12th grades students'geographical inquiry skills in order to achieve this goal. A trial form consisting of 36 scale items has been prepared for this. The trial form was applied to 599 students attending 10th and 11th grade from five different school types in Ankara in 2019. The Geographical inquiry process skill scale consisting of 22 items and 5 subcopmponents has been developed as a result of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The components of scale has been named as Asking Geographical Question, Obtaining Geographical Information, Organizing and Analysing Geographical Information and Answering Geographical Questions and Explaining Geographical Information. This developed scale has been used for the purpose of evaluating students' geographical inquiry skills. The research has been carried out with scanning model, which is one of the quantitative methods. The multi-stage sampling method has been used to determine the research study group. In this context, sixteen high school working groups from different school types of five different districts of Ankara have been selected. The data of the study has been collected from 1316 students attending the 9-12th class of these sixteen high schools included in the study group. The questionnaire form developed by the researcher and the geographic inquiry skill scale have been used for data gathering process. The data obtained from the study have been analysed in the SPSS Software. The descriptive statistics, t test and analysis of variance (Anova) have been performed at the stage of data analysis, Scheffe and Dunnett C Post Hoc tests have been used to determine which groups had statistically significant differences as a result of the Anova test. According to the descriptive statistical results, it has been found that 59,0% of the students asked geographic questions, 65,2% were able to transform geographical information into maps, graphs and tables, 52,8% have been able to read maps and graphics correctly, 59,2% had geographical terms self-efficacy was low in using skills. The "organizing and analysing the geographical information stage" of the geographical inquiry has been determined as the stage where the students found themselves the most inadequate. According to the descriptive statistics results, only 45,1% of the students consider themselves sufficient to have the geographic inquiry skills once again. Another important finding of the reserach is; it is about significant differences between groups according to some variables. Students have not been showed a statistically significiant difference according to gender, grade level and taking project homework. However, the students have showed significant differences with respect to the education level of parents and their participation in the TÜBİTAK project. In addition, students have showed significant differences according to the type of school placement, the region where the school is located, the type of school and the schools they attend. According to the results of the research; significant differences have been determined in favor of students whose parents had a high education level, took part in the TÜBİTAK project, settled in a school with HEE, and attended science high schools. It is possible to say that school are not sufficient in providing students with geographic inquiry skills based on these findings. According to the research results; in order to equip students with inquiry skills in schools, it is recommended that teachers use suitable methods and techniques for geographic inquiry, arrange the learning environment accordingly, and conduct their lessons using an inquiry-based approach. In addition, it is recommented to investigate the reasons for the significant differences between student groups (parents' education level, taking a TÜBİTAK project task, entering to the school with hee and attending a science high school).