Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Language and Literacy Education
Teaching geomedia literacy in school geography: Teachers’ perspectives on students’ interpretive and productive skills
Published: 2026-06-25
Subjects: Education, Educational Methods, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Language and Literacy Education, Other Geography, Science and Mathematics Education, Spatial Science
Maps, diagrams, images, and visualisations are central to how geographical knowledge is learned and communicated in school. Drawing on 20 interviews with Finnish lower and upper secondary geography teachers, this article analyses geomedia literacy as disciplinary literacy through an abductive, theory-informed thematic analysis. Teachers described geomedia as the everyday representational language [...]
How Do General Upper Secondary School Students Interpret Map Information? Geomedia Literacy and Visual Map Elements in Finland’s Geography Matriculation Examination
Published: 2026-06-21
Subjects: Education, Educational Methods, Geographic Information Sciences, Geography, Language and Literacy Education
This study examines general upper secondary school students’ geomedia literacy in a high-stakes assessment context by analysing 272 essay answers to a map-related question in Finland’s nationwide geography Matriculation Examination (spring 2020). The task (“Vis-ual elements of a good map”) asked students to identify at least five map elements and justify what each element conveys using a provided [...]
Knowledge in the Dark: Scientific Challenges and Ways Forward
Published: 2018-03-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Education, Environmental Sciences, Environmental Studies, Higher Education, Language and Literacy Education, Liberal Studies, Library and Information Science, Life Sciences, Medicine and Health Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Public Health, Science and Mathematics Education, Social and Behavioral Sciences
We propose the concept of knowledge in the dark – or short: dark knowledge – and outline how it can help clarify why in our current era of Big Data, the knowledge (i.e. evidence-based understanding) of people does not seem to be substantially increasing despite a rapid increase in produced data and information. Key reasons underlying dark knowledge are: (1) the production of biased, erroneous or [...]