Abstract:
GIS is regarded as one of the most powerful teaching resources for geography education, and has
been integrated into geography curriculum at schools in many countries. However, GIS is not yet
part of geography curriculum in Lesotho. Instead, there is advocacy for GIS integration because
several policies and official documents call for integration of ICT in education. The objective of
the study was to explore the opportunities and challenges for integrating GIS into the teaching
and learning of geography in Lesotho. To achieve this objective, the study posed four research
questions, focusing on the teachers’ understanding and benefits of GIS for geography education
as well as factors influencing and measures taken to promote integration of GIS at schools.
The methodological procedures for the study were premised on the quantitative approach,
thereby adopting a descriptive survey to explore teachers’ perspectives regarding GIS integration
at schools. Besides, the data were gathered through a questionnaire, transcribed and analysed
through descriptive statistics. The findings of the study, therefore, revealed that there are both
opportunities and challenges for integrating GIS into the teaching and learning of geography in
Lesotho. In particular, schools have proper infrastructure such as electricity, internet
connectivity, and computer laboratories geared towards enhancing integration of GIS. Also
found is teachers’ willingness to integrate GIS into their lessons, coupled with geography content
which can be taught through GIS as well as ICT teaching at schools. The study also revealed that
challenges such as teachers’ limited skills to use GIS, limited access to computer laboratories,
high student-computer ratio and lack of GIS software are likely to impede the integration of GISnto geography education at schools.
