Study On Influence Factor Of Geography Practice Ability Based On Structural Equation Modeling

When studying geography,one is often required to practice,present and examine the various contents from the textbook,making it a highly practicable subject.Relating to geography practice ability,current mainstream studies focus on its concept and constituents.Seldom is mentioned on its influence factor and how these factors come to work,yet these are significant in helping teachers and researchers alike to better understand geography practice ability and foster it within students.In the theoretical section,we analyzed past research papers and utilized questionnaires to construct a hypothetical model for the geography practice ability influence factors.In the model measuring part,we chose 4 potential variables and made assumptions on its dimension.In the model structuring part,we also made assumptions on the linkage of the 4 variables.In the empirical section,we randomly selected 428 students from 14 classes of 5 high schools in Shanghai as study sample,using SPSS(version 19.0)and a SEM analysis software AMOS(version 24.0),to examine and analysis the constituents of the potential variables and the path of high schoolers' geography practice ability influence factors.We found the following results on the constituents of the potential variables:geography practice motivation includes interest motivation,activity motivation,achievement motivation;students' prior knowledge and experience includes prior knowledge and prior experience;geography practice activities include observe and measure,research and study,and simulate and experiment;geography practice ability includes ability to observe and measure,ability to research and investigate,ability to experiment and ability to illustrate.We also found that ability to observe and measure has no influence to geography practice ability.We found the following results on the path of high schoolers' geography practice ability influence factors:geography practice motivation have no direct influence but have big indirect influence on the geography practice ability;students' prior knowledge and experience have medium direct influence and medium indirect influence on the geography practice ability;geography practice activities have big direct influence on the geography practice ability.According to our findings,geography practice activities is the main factor that influences high schoolers' geography practice ability,which means teachers are encouraged to hold more activities to foster students' geography practice ability.Also geography practice motivation shows high level of influence as well,which means teachers should enhance the awareness to center the student's needs when hosting geography practice activities to induce their geography practice motivation.