The Effect of Orienteering on the Sixth-Grade Students’ Academic Achievement and Map Literacy

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effects of orienteering practices on the sixth-grade students' academic achievement and map literacy in social studies. As one of the mixed-method designs, this study adopted an experimental (intervention) design, which provides a means of integrating the qualitative approach into an experimental process. Fifty-three sixth-grade students from a secondary school in the eastern region of Turkey comprised the study sample. The study included an experimental group (n= 26) and a control group (n= 27). In the experimental group, the "People, Places, and Environments" unit was taught using orienteering techniques, whereas, in the control group, standard curriculum-based instruction was conveyed. The quantitative data were collected through the Academic Achievement Test (AAT) and Map Literacy Test (MLT), while a semi-structured interview protocol was used to gather the qualitative data. The experimental and control groups were administered the AAT and MLT as pre-and post-tests, and the SPSS 22.0 program was used for the analysis. The students' opinions in the experimental group regarding the orienteering practices were taken through a semi-structured interview protocol. The data obtained from these interviews were subjected to content analysis. The results show no statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups on the pre-test regarding academic achievement and map literacy levels; however, there was a substantial difference in favor of the experimental group on the post-test. Additionally, the analysis of qualitative data showed that all of the students formed favorable attitudes toward orienteering activities.