Scientific and methodological foundations for integrating remote sensing (RS) data into school geography

Shakhislam Uzakbaevich Laiskhanov, Zhanbolat Nurmagambetuly, Kulyash Duisenbaevna KAIMULDINOVA, Duman Toktaruli ALIASKAROV, Erzhan Abikbaev, Aitolkyn Bopiyeva

2026

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.3389/feduc.2026.1768464
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

In the era of digital transformation, the application of remote sensing (RS) data in geography education and its effective integration into the teaching and learning process has become one of the pressing educational challenges, particularly in fostering students’ spatial thinking competencies. The purpose of the study is to identify the possibilities of incorporating RS data into school geography, to develop an effective teaching methodology based on its application, and to test it in practice. The research employed a review of international publications, surveys, correlation and comparative statistical analysis, modeling, analysis of regulatory documents, and pedagogical experimentation. The survey involved 124 geography teachers from different regions of Kazakhstan, while the experimental study included 52 eleventh-grade students from one secondary school selected through random sampling (26 students in the experimental group and 26 students in the control group). The survey results revealed that 62% of teachers use satellite imagery during lessons; however, 69% of them utilize RS data primarily for visualization purposes. The results of the pedagogical experiment demonstrated that the average academic achievement of students in the experimental group increased by 18.2%, whereas the improvement in the control group was 3.6%. Furthermore, the use of RS data positively influenced students’ geospatial thinking, research skills, and analytical abilities. The study further established that the structural-content model of RS-based teaching materials developed as a result of the research can contribute to improving existing methodologies. The proposed model is designed to modernize school geography curricula, enhance teachers’ methodological capacity, improve students’ learning outcomes, and promote geospatial literacy. The findings of the study demonstrate that the systematic integration of RS data into school geography education can serve as a scientific and methodological foundation for modernizing educational content, fostering students’ contemporary scientific and technological competencies, and improving the overall quality of geographic education.