Geographic inquiry skill is one of the skills that should be acquired by secondary education students in Turkey since 2005. This study was conducted to determine to what extent the geography education that secondary school students receive in their schools as they progress from 9th grade to 12th grade affects the development of their geographic inquiry skills and how this effect interacts with various variables. The study collected data from secondary school students at two-year intervals using the geographic inquiry skills scale and questionnaire questions. The first group of data was collected from 9th and 10th graders in the 2019-2020 school year and the second from 11th and 12th graders in 2021-2022. The study was conducted with 485 students in 16 high schools in Ankara. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and a two-way mixed ANOVA. It was determined whether the pre-test and post-test results of the students showed significant differences according to their grade, school type, school placement type, and whether they took geography courses after 10th grade. According to the results of the study, the mean scores of the students they obtained from the pre-tests and post-tests did not differ significantly. The mean scores of the students did not show a significant difference according to the school type, school placement type, and whether they took geography courses or not. Based on these results, it was concluded that schools did not contribute to the development of geographic inquiry skills in students. The significant change seen in the 12th graders can be attributed to the positive effect of preparing for the university entrance exam.
Secondary education, geography education, geographic inquiry skill, longitudinal, self-efficacy.