Assessment and evaluation in geographical and environmental education

Abstract

Finding out what has worked and what has not worked is essential for the advancement of human performance. Without assessment and evaluation, we cannot choose which performance intervention to discontinue, alter, maintain, or enhance (Kaufman, Keller and Watkins, 1996). We have a constant need to measure, analyse, and make decisions, yet we need to ask if we are assessing or evaluating. Both assessment and evaluation are important aspects of education—they are central to learning and teaching. However, the terms assessment and evaluation are often used interchangeably. This is erroneous. Assessment is concerned with measuring effectiveness. It is the process of making judgements and or measurements of the worth of a person or a process. Evaluation, on the other hand, involves gathering information related to learning activities or subjects. Evaluation involves adding a value aspect to the process. The value relates to the importance we assign to the information in determining success or failure. In geographical and environmental education, we often see research relating to the assessment of student learning as well as programme evaluation in the domains of formal and informal learning. An IRGEE editorial (Reid, 2018) called for further investment in research and evaluation to improve practice in environmental education. Before this, IRGEE published several studies on the evaluation of geographical or environmental education programmes. Later, IRGEE published a systematic review (Lane & Bourke, 2019) of assessment in geography education. The study concluded that greater clarity is needed regarding: