Israeli students' perceptions of geography instruction goals

This research compares the official Israeli Ministry of Education's curriculum goals of studying geography with the perceptions of Israeli Jewish and Arab junior high school students who study the subject. In addition, the perceptions of Jewish and Arab students about the importance of studying geography are compared. In the first stage of research, 500 students from northern Israel were asked open questions about how they perceived the goals of geography education. In the second stage of research, 280 middle grade students (ages 14-16 years) in northern Israel participated. Of these, 129 students were Jewish and 151 students were Arab. These students were given a questionnaire to fill out which included 17 statements about geography that were formulated from stage one of the research. These statements related to the importance of studying geography as a curriculum topic and as a subject that is interrelated to wider economic and political processes. The results of the research indicate that there is a significant difference between the students' perceptions of the importance of studying geography and the official curriculum goals for studying geography, which view its importance for the transmission of important societal values. Moreover, the research has also found that there is a significant difference between Jewish and Arab students in their perceptions of the importance of studying geography. While the Arab students perceive environmental values as being very important, the Jewish students perceive political and security issues as most important.