Developing Students’ Cultural Competence Through Cultural Geography Education: The Role of Project-Based Learning and Digital Technologies

Increasing cultural diversity and globalization require higher education institutions to prepare future geography teachers who can work effectively in culturally diverse environments. Developing cultural competence has therefore become an important objective of geography teacher education, requiring instructional approaches that combine disciplinary knowledge with authentic learning experiences and digital innovation. This study investigated the effectiveness of integrating project-based learning (PBL) and digital technologies into a Cultural Geography course to enhance university students’ cultural competence. A mixed-methods quasi-experimental design was employed involving 73 second-year geography students, including 35 students in the control group and 38 students in the experimental group. The intervention was implemented over one academic semester. Quantitative data were collected using the Cultural Competence Questionnaire and analysed through mixed repeated-measures ANOVA, while qualitative data from classroom observations, reflective journals, and project reports were analysed using thematic analysis. The results showed that students in the experimental group achieved significantly greater improvements than the control group across all dimensions of cultural competence, including cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity, cultural skills, and cultural interaction. Qualitative findings further indicated that project-based learning, cultural mapping, and digital technologies, including NetLogo, AnyLogic, and Cesium, enhanced students’ engagement, spatial thinking, collaborative inquiry, and understanding of cultural phenomena. Although the study was limited by its relatively small sample from a single university and the one-semester duration of the intervention, the findings provide empirical evidence that integrating project-based learning with digital technologies represents an effective pedagogical approach for strengthening cultural competence in geography teacher education and offers practical implications for competence-oriented curriculum development in higher education.