Paper Map instruction versus Digital Map instruction: The impact of students’ score change on HKDSE typed question and student’s attitude

Map reading has been perceived as a big challenge in Geography Education for the schools because the performance of the map reading section in Hong Kong public examination remains low throughout eight years. Simultaneously, many educators and geographers suggested using geospatial technology in geography lessons. Therefore, the research aimed to compare Google Map and Paper Map, examining the impact of students' correctness rate and students’ attitude towards maps. The study found a marginal difference in terms of the score improvement between two different instructional tools. Students taught with Google Maps displayed slightly higher score change than the paper map. Two different tools were appropriate to teach various map skills areas. For students’ perception, they held more positive feelings towards Google Map and preferred it as the teaching material rather than the conventional map. However, teachers should be aware of the discrepancy between the teaching effectiveness and students’ attitude because the research found no significant correlation between students’ achievement and attitude.