Place-Based Geography Education Using Visual Q Methodology

This study examines middle school students’ subjective spatial perception attitudes toward a sense of happy places. Using Visual Q methodology to assess participants’ sense of happy places contributes to place-based geography education by fomenting a sound identity based on the understanding of the concept of place. The use of Visual Q methodology in geography education can provide the following practical benefits. First, by arranging photograph cards, students actively participate as if they are playing a game, stimulating interest in geography classes. Second, by arranging place-related photographs from an individual’s perspective, they can express their subjective views on topics or phenomena and use the Q arrangement board to refine their positions beyond simply being for or against. Third, by sharing their views with each other, students can understand others’ subjective views on places and consider the same place from various viewpoints, fostering geographical imagination. Fourth, Visual Q methodology enables learner-centered geography classes wherein all learners express their subjective views by arranging a set of Q cards in the same space at the same time without having to produce language in written or spoken form.