The influence of representations on English students’ perceptions of the place of Antarctica

• Main Author: Lenton, Teresa
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: 370 EDUCATION; 370 Education & educational psychology (incl. teacher training & research); 373 Secondary education; Antarctic; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2443/; https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2443/1/Final%20Masked%20Thesis%20%28for%20public%20view%2929%20Sept%202016lenton%20phd.pdf; https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.694983

This thesis is a cross disciplinary consideration of the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical debates on the construction of place. This place discourse is interwoven with an investigation of the historical and current social, cultural and scientific representations of the unique and significant place of Antarctica and school research. Through the paradigm of critical educational research it relates this place discourse to the pedagogy of place. Classroom research, using an integrative mixed methods approach, was undertaken in an English, comprehensive, secondary school with mixed gender and ability 11-18 year old English students. This case study examines how representations influence English school students’ place perceptions of the Antarctic continent. Analysis of the classroom research with qualitative software identifies the key components and differences of the imaginations and the ‘realities’ of the students’ perceptions of Antarctica. The research establishes what and how varied representations influence the students’ place perceptions of this distant continent. It explores how digital representations across the continuum of the concept of place, a film place matrix and dialogical discussion could be employed to challenge and change student perceptions of place through critical reflection. The research brings the secondary students’ voice to the discourse of place construction. The findings suggest the teaching of place needs to move beyond the socio constructive approach to a social realist understanding of place and to adopt a holistic pedagogical approach. The thesis highlights how students need to make conscious their unconscious perceptions of place and to critically engage with the place representations they encounter if they are to develop a deep sense of distant place.