| The purpose of this study was to develop and research the effectiveness of three instructional models for geographic information systems (GIS) to be implemented by university-level instructors within preservice teacher education courses. The instructional models, which were “Basics First” (BF), “Structured Problem Solving” (SPS), and “Guided Generation” (GG), used a theoretical framework based on the Jasper Woodbury Problem Solving Series from the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt. The participants' abilities to solve an authentic problem using a GIS, their comprehension of GIS procedural skills, and their field articulation was collected and analyzed. A total of 142 preservice teachers were divided into treatments to receive the GIS instruction. The participants' abilities to solve problems with a GIS and their GIS procedural skills were collected immediately after instruction and two weeks later. In addition to the exams, five participants from each treatment were interviewed to better understand their GIS learning and likelihood of future GIS integration.; Results showed no significant differences between participants based on the instruction they received after completing the immediate cognitive engagement posttest exam. However, the delayed posttest exam given two weeks later, participants who received the BF and SPS instruction performed significantly better than the control group and GG participants. BF and SPS treatments also performed significantly better than the control group and GG participants on the delayed procedural knowledge posttest.; Interviews revealed participants who received the BF instruction might have performed significantly better because they had access to an instructor at all times when learning the GIS content prior to the exams. Furthermore, participants who received the SPS instruction may have performed significantly better because they had access to videos and structured practice questions where they could see the application of their skills.; Interviews showed that participants in the control group and GG treatment were frustrated with their instruction, as they could not apply their newly learned skills. The control group and GG participants not only performed significantly worse, but they spent a significantly less amount of time completing the second exam because they gave up. Lastly, field articulation had no significant impact on GIS learning. |
