Conceptualizing geography teachers' subject-specific noticing during instruction

Abstract

During instruction teachers are exposed to multiple stimuli. Expert teachers manage this complex classroom situation by noticing incidents relevant to learning while neglecting others. Besides issues of classroom management, teachers must notice subject-specific incidents while teaching to support students` subject-specific learning. This paper deals with the question of how geography-specific noticing can be conceptualized. More specifically the aim of the article is to elucidate features of a geographical noticing incident. In order to achieve this aim the article considers the pertinent literature on teacher noticing (i.e. the PID model and the noticing construct) and deduces defining features thereof. These features are then discussed theoretically in relation to geography education to determine subject specificities. The result is a compilation of features of geographical noticing incidents. The theoretical ideas are substantiated in a geographical noticing incident which is presented in the form of a written vignette to demonstrate the utility of the concept.