Abstract:
Geographic literacy is a peoples ability to relate the relationship geographic knowledge as well as the physical system and the impact of human activities. By applying the geographic knowledge to observe and collecting data for geo-interpretation, analyze the collected data and summarize it as information. The objectives of this research were 1). To design and develop an assessment tool for measuring geographical literacy of student teachers. 2) For analyze and compare geographical literacy of student teachers from different backgrounds. The research was divided into two phases. The first phase was to develop and validate geographic literacy assessment tools. The second phase was to analyze geographic literacy levels of student teacher from different backgrounds. The sample were 310 student teachers. Data collected by assessment tools and then analyzed by using descriptive statistic and Factorial ANOVA. The research findings were as followed: 1. The development of geographic literacy assessment tools in 2 components; the geographical knowledge component; and the components of applying geographic knowledge. The assessment tool format had to determine the situation, used characteristics of the questions and the patterns of misconception in each sub-component. 2. The results of validating geographic literacy assessment tools. By validating a content validity that experts are determined consistency of the content (IOC = .50-1.00). Validating construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis found that the measurement model is fitted with the empirical data. (Chi-square (18, N = 310) = 41.377, p = .001, CFI= .892, TLI = .832, RMSEA = .065, SRMR = .075) The values of the standardized factor loading for the specific model in terms of geographic knowledge ranged between .103-.517 and applied geographic knowledge between .114-.399. In the general model. The standardized factor loading for geographic knowledge ranged from .122-.487, and applied geographic knowledge was between .125-.601, and the prediction coefficient was between .120-.466. and verification of reliability by KR-20 of 0.71. Therefore, the quality of geographic literacy assessment tools can be used correctly. 3. Student teachers who learn in different major have different level of geographic literacy, F(1, 308) = 118.162, p < .001. When pairwise comparison, it was found that the social studies student teachers had a higher level of geographic literacy than the teacher students in all other major. As for the student teachers of different grades, they had different levels of geographic literacy, F(4, 305) = 10.140, p < .001. When pairwise comparison, it was found that 5th Year student teachers had higher level of geographic literacy than second year and third year student teachers. The student teachers of different domiciles had the same level of geographic literacy, F(5, 304) = .828, p = .531 and student teachers who have had experience attending the training or geography seminar had a higher level of geographic literacy than the student teachers who had never attended the training or seminar on Geography, (F(1, 308) = 56.369, p < .001)