THE MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF SPATIAL THINKING IN HIGH-SCHOOL GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS AND TASKS IN THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA (B&H)

Abstract

Spatial thinking remains one of the basic cognitive competencies of modern education and STEM disciplines in particular, regardless of the fact how the great body of work defines it. Geography courses at all levels of education represent a fertile ground for encouraging spatial thinking, which has been insufficiently capitalized on for different reasons. In order to support spatial thinking in geography classes, the authors believe that it is crucial to undertake an initial analysis of its characteristics focusing on school textbooks. It is the textbooks, including tasks and questions set before students, which represent a “gauge” of advantageous students’ cognitive abilities and skills. The paper investigates the characteristics of spatial thinking in high-school geography textbook questions and tasks used in the Republic of Srpska (B&H). The research was conducted on the basis of the methodology used by Trifunović (2020), which is basically an extended methodology developed by Jo (2007) and Jo & Bernardz (2009). Trifunović's methodology introduces 2 important new elements into the research of spatial thinking - conceptions of spatiality (topological conceptions based on Aristotle's teaching on topos and absolute conceptions of spatiality) and spatial metaphors. The research analyzed 1437 questions and tasks from the textbook.