大考地理試題之空間思考和學生解題弱點分析

Abstract

空間思考能力培養是地理教育的核心目標之一。大學入學考試試題對高中教學有一定的引導作用，其試題所涵蓋空間思考的層次與範疇是一項值得探究的議題。本文以101-105年大考中心之學測和指考地理試題為研究對象，並以內容分析法結合文獻回顧，界定適合用以分析大考中心試題的空間概念指標和定義，再以這些指標來檢視試題的空間思考內涵豐富性和層級，最後針對具有空間概念且通過率較低的試題進行學生問卷調查，以瞭解學生的解題弱點環節。經過分析與討論後獲致幾項結論。 首先，整體而言，學測和指考的空間概念豐富性高，空間思考內涵層級以「高層次」的比率為最高；再者，有空間概念且通過率較低的試題，主要落在四類的空間概念，依次為：在哪裡 (座標、區位和分布)、方向、等高線圖或立體模型圖、以及有關邊界的溶解/合併與分割。就比率最高的「在哪裡」題目，筆者觀察到近年來大考試題幾乎不會將「某地物在哪裡？」獨立成試題，而是將其隱含在解題過程中。換言之，山川、鐵路、物產位置等地理事實，從以前考試的「答案」，演變成解題的「線索」，用這些線索來處理更高認知層級的問題。透過地理試題的空間思考分析結合學生解題弱點分析，本研究提出地理科教學提升的建議。

The training of spatial thinking has been the main target in education of geography. The collage entrance examinations have strongly set the direction of teaching in high school in Taiwan. Therefore, how do test items in the college entrance exams measure the spatial thinking abilities is worth exploring. After reviewing literature, spatial concepts and their definitions were systematically organized into different levels. The level and original density of spatial thinking in each test item in 2012-2016 General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT) and Advanced Subjects Test (AST) in Taiwan were analyzed. Test items that contain spatial concepts and with low item difficulty value (i.e. difficult items) were further investigated. Sixty-four senior high school students were surveyed of those difficulty test items to understand which steps of problem solving process were difficult for students to fail the test item. Some conclusions are made in this study. First, generally speaking, the test items of 2012-2016 GSAT and AST in Taiwan both have high enough original density and the highest ratio in high level spatial thinking. Second, difficult test items fall into 4 types of questions: 'Where', 'Direction', 'Relief' and 'Dissolve'. Among the four types, the most difficult type is “Where” questions. It can be observed that test items do not directly inquire “where is some geographic feature?” However, the “where” question is implied in the item descriptions. Therefore, this does not mean that students need not to know where some geographic features are. Instead, the act of recitation of the location of mountains or rivers, which may be people's stereotypes of geography, changes from “the answer to the question' to “the clue to the question'. The reason of this change is to use the “where” information to deal with questions with higher cognitive levels. Suggestions are proposed in this study to enhance the teaching in education of Geography by the analysis of test items in view of spatial thinking and difficulties during problem solving process.