Effectiveness of Formative Assessments for Undergraduates in Geography through Student-Centred Community-Based Studies

Abstract

This study investigates the effectiveness of teaching geography through student-centred socio-emotional programs, focusing on practical engagement in geospatial issues. The research, conducted with 105 second-year Bachelor of Geography students at the University of Ruhuna, assigned them the task of exploring the economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka (2023) and its impact on the school education system in their respective Grama Niladhari (GN) Divisions. The students were required to identify, implement, and report on a creative social activity addressing the identified issues, and a total of 40 marks were allocated for the two assignments. Qualitative research methodology and inductive research approach were applied to the study, and reports provided by the students were analyzed using the Explanatory analysis method. Further, 15 students were randomly selected to gather data through open interviews. The findings reveal a higher level of dedication and enthusiasm among students for these assignments than traditional assessments. Many students showcased innovative and creative solutions to problems in school education within their areas, demonstrating increased engagement in active tasks over conventional classroom or written assignments. Notably, the distribution of scores for this assignment exhibited a distinct pattern, with academically weaker students achieving significantly higher scores than their performance in the other three assessments. Conversely, some high-performing students experienced a reduction in marks for this specific task. The study concludes that creating opportunities for students to learn subjects through structured social welfare activities is an effective student-centred approach to teaching Geography. That process can be theoretically linked with the Constructivism Learning Theory.