HSIEH, YUN PEI
National Kaohsiung Normal University of Education Graduate School of Geography Student
Email：yunpeis@gmail.com
WU, YU CHEN
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This study aims to explore the key concepts in assessment of learning difficulties in general geography on the learning achievement of junior high school students. A quasi-experimental design was adopted as the main research method. Two classes of seventh-grade students attending a junior high school in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, were recruited as research participants, giving a total of 55 participants. The teaching experiment lasted for a semester and twelve weeks. First, the questionnaires were to investigate the key concepts in assessment of learning difficulties in general geography were administered to 20 teachers and 50 ninth grade student. If checked by teachers and students account for more than fifty percent, it would be regarded as the concept of learning difficulties in general geography. One of the classes were chosen to be an experimental group, in which taken the tests of learning difficulties in geographic concepts on Paper in the first semester. The second semester, the experimental group, learning difficulties in geographic concepts in which interactive response App-Plickers integrated assessment was applied. The research tools employed included geography test questions one learning achievement for five times, the first and second semester of geography learning achievement which be taken the end of classes after five weeks. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on the data gathered. The conclusions are as follows:(1)The physical geography concepts of learning difficulties had included time zone, map scale, topographic map, topographic profile, bathymetric chart, continental island, frontal rain, air pressure, wind direction, surface weather chart, watershed, drainage basin;(2) The human geography concepts of learning difficulties had included natural increase rate, social increase rate, increase rate of population, the type of population pyramid, dependency ratio, intensive agriculture, extensive agriculture, industrial location, export surplus, import surplus, urbanization degree, hinterland;(3) The tests of learning difficulties in geographic concepts perform better than the unit tests, especially in the first semester classes of physical geography;(4)Compared with the tests of learning difficulties in geographic concepts on Paper, the Integration of the interactive App-Plickers into assessments, showing no significantly improvements of the geography learning achievement.
Keywords :Concept of learning difficulties, Interactive response App, Geography learning achievement