Pedagogical integration of digital GIS tools in secondary education: Teachers’ uses, classroom organisation, and constraints

Petteri Muukkonen , Ronja Aarnio

This study examines how geography teachers implement GIS-related digital work in secondary education and what this reveals about the pedagogical integration of specialised digital tools. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 20 Finnish lower and upper secondary geography teachers, the study analyses the tools teachers use, the pedagogical organisation of GIS-related work, and the factors shaping its scope, depth, and continuity. The findings show that GIS-related teaching was established in principle but selective in practice. Teachers regularly used digital spatial tools, mainly lightweight browser-based services such as Google Earth, Google Maps, and, in upper secondary settings, Geodata portal “Paikkatietoikkuna”. More demanding GIS applications were rare and usually reserved for later upper secondary study. GIS-related work was organised mainly through teacher-led forms such as demonstration, tightly guided progression, and whole-class work, especially in lower secondary contexts. Student-led forms, including independent work supported by written instructions and inquiry-oriented tasks, appeared more selectively and were linked mainly to upper secondary teaching and later learning stages. Interpreted through the revised Bloom’s taxonomy, lower secondary work was more often associated with remembering, understanding, and applying, whereas upper secondary work more often moved towards analysing, evaluating, and creating. Key constraints included lack of time, uneven teacher expertise, weak device routines, and the influence of curriculum and the digital matriculation examination on software choice. The study shows that the educational value of specialised digital tools depends not only on access, but also on pedagogical usability, curricular timing, and institutional routines.