The use of GIS technologies to assess the level of geographical education in the region (on the example of the NCFU olympiad “45 parallel”)

Abstract

The article presents the possibilities of using geoinformation technologies as a tool for evaluating the education system. School geographical education has a number of specific features and problems that are difficult or impossible to study with the help of official statistics. The solution is to use data collected during major geographical olympiads—such as the NCFU “45 Parallel” Olympiad in Geography. For the processing and interpretation of the received data, a conceptual scheme of the geoinformation system is proposed. The use of GIS can go in several directions—collection, processing, presentation of cartographic models and specification, as well as forecasts in solving educational problems in the field of geographical education of the region. Using GIS technologies, we obtained qualitative conclusions about the state of school geographical education in the Stavropol Territory. The geography of the territories participation in the dynamics shows the basic level of students’ interest in geography, as well as the qualifications and involvement of teachers. The analysis of the territorial distribution of winners and prize-winners, as well as the specifics of training in individual blocks of geographical knowledge, revealed the most developed territories. The main factor of their functioning is the agglomeration effect. The highest level of school geographical education is observed in large cities and urbanized areas of the region. The reverse side is the lowest level of geographical knowledge in the rural peripheral areas of the region. Based on the entire data set, the typology of territories by the level of development of geographical education is carried out. There are 5 types, each of which can be offered its own system of development of school geographical education.