The dynamic nature of Geography has meant that over the years it has undergone many changes. These changes - for example, in curricula, approaches and methods - have had a great impact on how Geography is taught and learned in schools. Learning theories on how children learn Geography are changing from behaviourism, in terms of which learners are regarded as passive recipients of knowledge in the form of facts, to socially constructivist theory, where learners learn by constructing their own knowledge. In the South African context this has meant moving away from the positivistic tendencies of the 1960s and 1970s, to constructivist practices embodied in the outcomes-based education envisaged for the 21st Century. These changes have impacted on the nature and use of resources. This research attempts to reveal teachers' and learners' perceptions of resources. In the previous curriculum, resources were largely limited to textbooks. In the new curriculum., our perception of resources has to become wider to encompass anything that can enhance teaching and learning. This study focuses on Grade 5 and 6 children in the Northern Province. In the intermediate phase, young children need a wide variety of resources. As we approach the 21 st Century, the information technology of media like computers and the Internet, together with traditional media and resources found in the environment, provide teachers and learners with great opportunities and a wide variety of choices. The study surveyed schools in the Northern Province, through a questionnaire. In order to understand the depth of the problem, three schools were selected for a case study. Data obtained from these studies were analysed and compared to determine trends and patterns regarding the availability or use of resources as teaching and learning aids. On the one hand the study highlights the severe lack of even basic infrastructure on which to develop a 'traditional' resource base and stresses the need for innovation and creativity (and dedication) among a teaching body which feels isolated and marginalised, while on the other hand this research has revealed teachers' desire and willingness to accept change and to adapt, given the necessary epistemological enforcement to effect change.

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This mini-thesis documents two action research projects which I conducted as a teacher researcher in my Grade 10 Geography classroom. The research was an attempt to improve my teaching as a Geography teacher and to enhance social cohesion in my classroom. This mini-thesis investigated the following research questions: How can cooperative learning be used in a Geography classroom to build and improve social cohesion amongst students? And how can I improve my own teaching practice? The focus of the study was on cooperative learning as a teaching strategy, while action research was the research methodology. Two action research projects were completed and reflected upon within the action research framework. This mini-thesis, which include two action research projects, is based, underpinned and influenced by the critical theorists such as Darder (2007), Dewey (1938) Freire(1972), Habermas (1972), Giroux (1988), McNiff (2002, 2006, 2010) and Waghid 2011). In reflecting on my practice, I realise that there is a problem in terms of helping students to foster an promote positive social relationships and working together in the classroom. In this mini thesis I contend that cooperative learning holds the potential to improve social cohesion and social relationships amongst students. Cooperative learning emphasises cooperation as integral to students’ success and because of this cooperative learning has been found successful in fostering positive intergroup attitudes in classrooms. South-African teachers in recent years have been compelled to embrace a more learner-centred approach as opposed to a teacher-centred approach. I believe cooperative learning could be instrumental in enhancing learner performance and promoting positive social relationships amongst classmates. I consider my teaching practice to have certain defects and through action research I can investigate and reflect on this with a view of improving my practice. Self-reflection and introspection led me to critically examine my classroom practice. In this research I also tried to encourage students to interact with one another in a positive way. This study uses cooperative learning as a teaching strategy to enhance working together between students in a classroom and enhance social cohesion. At the time of this study the Department of Basic Education introduced Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) as the official curriculum of South Africa. CAPS consequently has an influence on my teaching practice. We adhere to departmental policies and try to comply with curriculum delivery often to the detriment of the needs that learners might experience in the school, such as nation building and maintaining relationships that contribute to the total development of the learner. What further motivated me to address my classroom practice was that my teaching style was still very similar to the way my previous teachers taught me. I was still caught up in the traditional mode of teaching and learning where the “teacher talks and the learner listens” There was no innovation that characterised my teaching practice. In an attempt to address the issues that concern me, I asked the following critical research questions in this mini-thesis: 1 How can cooperative learning be used in a Geography classroom to develop social cohesion amongst learners? 2 How can I improve my own teaching practice? I would like to believe and set out to establish whether the cooperative classroom is different from the one in the traditional teaching environment; both the teacher and student adopt new roles. The teacher becomes a facilitator and the cooperative lessons imbue learners with confidence and enhance social relationships. In Chapter One I give a background to the study. I describe the educational challenges that face South Africa and I set out to locate what I would regard as the problem in my teaching. Chapter Two is my literature review. In this chapter, I give a detailed account of cooperative learning. Due to the limited scope of this study and the many facets of cooperative learning, I contend that as a researcher, I cannot deal with cooperative learning in its entirety. In Chapter Three I focus on action research as the research methodology which I employed in this study. I give a brief historical perspective on the development of action research, define it, explain how it operates and give an account of how action research works. Chapter Four and Five provide a description of the two action research projects that I undertook with my Grade 10 Geography classes. In these two chapters I give an account of my two action research learning projects. Chapter six is the concluding chapter. I reflect on the research projects and try to map the future of cooperative learning as an educational strategy that could transform the classroom and ultimately contribute to nation building. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie mini- tesis dokumenteer ek twee aksienavorsingprojekte wat ek as onderwysernavorser in my Graad 10 Geografieklas uitgevoer het. Hierdie navorsing was ʼn poging om my onderrigpraktyk as Geografie-onderwyser te verbeter om sosiale samehorigheid in my klaskamer te verbeter. Hierdie mini-tesis het die volgende navorsingsvrae beantwoord: Hoe kan koöperatiewe leer in ʼn Geografie klaskamer gebruik word om sosiale samehorigheid tussen leerders te verbeter en te bou? En hoe kan ek my eie onderrigpraktyk verbeter? Die studie het op koöperatiewe leer as onderrigstrategie en aksienavorsing as navorsingsmetodologie gefokus.Twee aksienavorsingsprojekte is binne die aksienavorsingsraamwerk voltooi en oor besin. Hierdie mini-tesis wat twee navorsingsprojekte insluit, is gebaseer, onderskryf en beinvloed deur die kritiese teoriste soos Darda(2007), Dewey (2008). Freire (1972), Habermas (1972), Giroux (1988), McNiff (2002, 2006, 2010) en Waghid (2011). Deur te reflekteer op my onderrigpraktyk, het ek besef dat daar n probleem is in terme van hulpverlening aan leerders om hulle te help om positiewe sosiale verhoudings te promoveer en saam te werk in die klaskamer. In hierdie mini-tesis is ek egter van mening dat koöperatiewe leer die potensiaal het om sosiale samehorigheid en sosiale verhoudings te verbeter tussen leerders Koöperatiewe leer beklemtoon samewerking as noodsaaklik tot die sukses van leerders en as gevolg daarvan is gevind dat koöperatiewe leer positiewe houdings tussen groepe in klaskamers suksesvol bevorder. Oor die afgelope jare was Suid-Afrikaanse onderwysers verplig om ʼn meer leerdergerigte benadering te volg eerder as ʼn onderwysergesentreerde benadering.Ek is van mening dat koöperatiewe leer is bevorderlik vir die verbetering van leerders se prestasie en die bevordering van sosiale verhoudinge tussen klasmaats. Ek aanvaar dat my onderrigpraktyk sekere gebreke het en met aksienavorsing kan ek dit ondersoek en daaroor besin met die oog op die verbetering van my praktyk. In hierdie navorsing het ek gepoog om studente te ontwikkel om op ʼn positiewe wyse met mekaar in wisselwerking te tree. Hierdie studie gebruik koöperatiewe leer as onderrigstrategie om samewerking tussen leerders in ʼn klaskamer te verhoog en sosiale samehorigheid te bevorder. Toe die studie onderneem is, het die Departement van Basiese Onderwys die Kurrikulumen Assesseringsbeleidsverklaring (KABV) as die amptelike kurrikulum vir Suid-Afrika bekendgestel. KABV het ʼn invloed op my onderrigpraktyk. Ons kom departementele beleide na en poog om aan kurrikulumaflewering te voldoen tot nadeel van die behoeftes wat leerders op skool mag ervaar, soos nasiebou en behoud van verhoudings, wat bydra tot die algehele ontwikkeling van die leerder. Besinning en introspeksie het daartoe gelei dat ek my klaskamerpraktyk krities ondersoek. Wat my verder gemotiveer het om my klaskamerpraktyk aan te spreeek was dat my onderrig styl baie dieselfde was as die van my vorige onderwysers wat my onderrig het. Ek was vasgevang in die tradisionele manier van onderrig en leer waar die “onderwyser praat en die leerder luister” My klaskamerpraktyk was dieselfde as die van my onderwysers. Die manier waarop ek onderrig, was dieselfde as wat my onderwysers gebruik het om my te onderrig. My onderrigstelsel is nie deur innovering gekenmerk nie. In ʼn poging om die kwessies waaroor ek bekommerd was aan te spreek, is die volgende kritiese navorsings vrae gevra in hierdie mini-tesis: 1 Hoe kan koöperatiewe leer in ʼn geografie klaskamer gebruik word om sosiale samehorigheid tussen leerders te ontwikkel? 2 Hoe kan ek my eie onderrigpraktyk verbeter? Ek wil graag glo en vastel of die koöperatiewe klaskamer verskillend is van die tradisionele onderrig omgewing; beide die onderwyser en leerder neem verskillende rolle aan. Die onderwyser word ʼn fasiliteerder in die leer proses. Die koöperatiewe lesse ontwikkel leerders met selfvertroue en verbeter sosiale verhoudinge. In Hoofstuk Een gee ek die agtergrond tot die studie. Ek bespreek die opvoedkundige uitdagings wat Suid- Afrika in die gesig staar en wil graag vastel wat ek beskou as die probleem in my onderrig Hoofstuk Twee is my literatuur studie. In die hoofstuk gee ek n gedetaileerde verslag van koöperatiewe leer. As gevolg van die beperkte omvang van die studie en die baie fasette van koöperatiewe leer is ek as navorser van mening dat ek nie koöperatiewe leer in sy totaliteit kan behandel nie Hoofstuk Drie fokus op aksienavorsing as die navorsingsmetodologie wat in hierdie studie gebruik work. Ek gee ook n kort historiese perspektief van die ontwikkeling van aksienavorsing, definieer dit, verduidelik hoe dit opereer en gee n verslag van hoe aksie navorsing werk. Hoofstuk Vier en Vyf gee n verduideliking van die twee aksienavorsingsprojekte wat ek met my Graad 10 klasse onderneem het. In hierdie twee hoofstukke doen ek verslag van my twee aksienavorsingprojekte Hoofstuk Ses is die slot hoofstuk. Ek reflekteer op die aksienavorsingprojekte en prober om die toekoms van koöperatiewe leer uit te stippel as n opvoedkundige strategie wat die klaskamer kan transformeer en n bydrae tot nasiebou kan maak.

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the understanding of and experiences in the implementation of learner-centred education (LCE) and enquiry-based teaching of Grade 10 Geography teachers against the backdrop of curriculum reform in Namibia. The Namibian curriculum is premised on the view that there is a need for the holistic development and preparation of learners for a knowledge-based society. Globally, LCE, with its potential for broadening access to quality education, has been a recurring theme of national reform policies and has been promoted as an innovative way of teaching. The usefulness of the LCE approach and associated enquiry-based teaching is embedded in constructivism and is introduced with the promise that it will enable learners to develop investigative and critical thinking skills that will put them at the centre of learning. This interpretative study employed a case study approach that utilised qualitative methods to gather information on the experiences of the three Geography teachers at the sampled schools as they implement LCE and enquiry-based teaching. The main data-gathering techniques in phases 1 and 2 of the research respectively were semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The findings revealed that the teachers have different understandings of what LCE and enquiry-based teaching approaches are, although their teaching employs some elements of it. The research also indicated that there is one big factor that impinges on their implementation of LCE and enquiry-based teaching approaches. The teachers admitted that, due to the pressure of learner success in the end-of-year Grade 10 examination, they rather teach to the test. This diverts their teaching from focusing on implementing approaches that actively involve learners in the learning process and nurture enquiry skills when these skills are not formally assessed in examinations. Consequently, teachers fail to implement the syllabus as intended by policy makers and curriculum developers. Even though the findings of this study may be specific to the sampled schools and the participating teachers, it can be assumed that similar situations exist in schools with comparable contexts. It is therefore important that education policy makers and relevant stakeholders strive to allocate sufficient support and resources for teachers to implement LCE and enquiry-based teaching effectively in schools. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die verstaan van en ervarings met die implementering van leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig van Graad 10 Geografie-onderwysers teen die agtergrond van kurrikulumhervorming in Namibië. Die Namibiese leerplan berus op die siening dat daar „n behoefte is aan die holistiese ontwikkeling en voorbereiding van leerders vir „n kennis-gebaseerde samelewing. Leerder-gesentreerde onderrig met sy potensiaal om toegang tot gehalte onderwys te verbreed, is „n tema wat wêreldwyd herhaaldelik in nasionale hervormingsbeleid voorkom en as „n innoverende wyse van onderrig bevorder word. Die nut van die leerder-gesentreerde benadering en gepaardgaande ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig is in konstruktivisme gebaseer en word voorgestel met die belofte dat dit leerders in staat sal stel om ondersoekende en kritiese denkvaardighede te ontwikkel, wat hulle sentraal in die leerproses sal plaas. Hierdie interpretatiewe studie het 'n gevallestudie-benadering gevolg en kwalitatiewe metodes gebruik om inligting in te samel oor die ervarings van drie Geografie-onderwysers se implementering van leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig by skole wat as steekproef gekies is. Die belangrikste onderskeidelike data-insamelingstegnieke in fases 1 en 2 van die navorsing was semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude en klaskamerwaarneming. Die bevindinge toon dat die onderwysers verskillende begrippe handhaaf van wat leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrigbenaderings behels, hoewel hulle onderrig sommige elemente daarvan toon. Die navorsing het ook aangedui dat een belangrike faktor inbreuk doen op hul implementering van leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrigbenaderings. Die onderwysers het erken dat die druk van leerdersukses in die graad 10-eksamen aan die einde van die jaar hulle eerder met die oog op die toets laat onderrig gee. Dit verplaas die fokus van hul onderrig weg van die implementering van benaderings wat leerders aktief by die leerproses betrek en die koestering van ondersoekvaardighede, veral ook omdat hierdie vaardighede nie formeel in eksamens beoordeel word nie. Onderwysers slaag gevolglik nie daarin om die leerplan soos beleidmakers en kurrikulum-ontwikkelaars dit bedoel, te implementeer nie. Selfs al sou die bevindinge van hierdie studie slegs spesifiek op die betrokke skole en die deelnemende onderwysers betrekking hê, kan aanvaar word dat soortgelyke situasies in skole in vergelykbare kontekste bestaan. Dit is dus belangrik dat onderwysbeleidmakers en relevante rolspelers daarna moet streef om voldoende ondersteuning en hulpbronne vir onderwysers beskikbaar te stel om leerder-gesentreerde en ondersoek-gebaseerde onderrig effektief in skole te implementeer.

Given the current availability of newly-designed textbooks for senior secondary geography teachers and the limited focus on their role in promoting students’ ‘meaningful learning’ advocated in the curriculum reform, a study of teachers’ use of geography textbooks in Hong Kong is particularly timely. Seeking to know the teachers’ practice of using geography textbooks, this study aims at describing and explaining how teachers use the two sets of textbooks, and exploring how their use might be improved in the context of particular classrooms to bring about meaningful learning among students. Two single cases of teacher participants were chosen for study. A holistic case study approach was adopted with a wide range of qualitative research techniques, namely observation, interviews, documentation and journal-writing. Drawing on Remillard’s model of teachers’ role in curriculum development (1999), data collected for each case was analyzed to understand teacher’s activity of using textbooks in curriculum mapping, design and construction arenas. The findings showed that teachers may have different levels of engagement with the textbooks in different dimensions of teaching. Textbooks were generally used as a major source of knowledge in the content determination. Yet, teachers neither used them alone nor followed them slavishly. Driven by the advocacy of constructivist approach to learning, they not only chose relevant tasks from textbooks for students to undertake, but also used the textbooks as one of the sources of geographical ideas or stimulus materials to design the tasks with a focus on different levels of cognition for in-class activities. During the lessons, the PowerPoint files which came along with the prescribed textbooks were widely used for an exposition or reinforcement of students’ work. They were also flexibly used and adapted according to teachers’ spontaneous decisions to varying extents. Teachers’ diversity in their ways of using geography textbooks stemmed from the interaction between their different individual characteristics in terms of experience, knowledge and beliefs, and the textbooks in varying contexts. To a broader context, their diverse ways of using textbooks could be attributed to their different degrees of being influenced by public examination, lesson time, institutional polices and organization norms, professional development opportunities and computer infrastructure, as well as their attitudes towards students’ characteristics. It was worth noting that the constraints in the circumstances of teaching, such as time constraints for lesson preparation, sometimes made teachers difficult to perform their ideal teaching and learning roles. According to the three principles proposed by Hooper and Rieber (1999:258-260), certain ways of using the textbooks could generate the opportunities for supporting students’ meaningful learning were unveiled in this study. First, teachers who chose the essential content, selected important tasks and designed meaningful tasks based on the text and illustrations could provide opportunities for students to have active processing of lesson content. Next, the use of multitext approach in the group enquiry tasks, oral presentation and debriefing sessions could allow students to expose to information from multiple perspectives. Third, the presentation of content in the form of cases or examples, and the use of tasks or case studies in the textbooks for authentic work, issue-based or case-based enquiry learning could build upon students’ knowledge and life experience in meaningful contexts. Teachers’ interaction with textbooks did not guarantee the generation of meaningful learning outcome. To improve the ways of textbook use for students’ meaningful learning, several feasible strategies were identified. To cope with students’ limited capacity of working memory, teachers may slow down the pace of presentation, avoid students doing unnecessary tasks, and use suitable modes and structures of the presentation of information for students with different cognitive styles. Selective use of materials and props provided by the publishers could avoid the repetition of content and increase students’ interest in processing of lesson content. To increase students’ mental engagement in the tasks, their learning attitudes should be improved through interesting tasks in the textbooks, rewarding practice, team competition and small group work. It was also important to connect the content in the tasks to their existing knowledge through providing conditional knowledge, making the text more comprehensible to students and using visual images with more explicit information. Some higher-order questions should be added in the ready-made tasks to cater for diverse students’ abilities. Group work could be used to help the lower achievers in these tasks. Regarding the use of supplementary materials, teachers should use PowerPoints and their own resources together to sustain students’ engagement in the cognitive tasks. Since it was not easy to transfer knowledge through animations, words should be better presented as narration than on-screen text. To increase group engagement in the tasks, group work should be properly managed. Finally, teachers should make students familiar with real-life contexts before they started engaging them in tasks. In conclusion, teachers can use the textbooks to provide opportunities for students’ meaningful learning, but this sometimes became unattainable because of difficulties in the circumstances of teaching. Findings suggested that more efforts should be made to improve initial teacher education programme, increase teachers’ professional development opportunities, provide more useful offerings in the textbooks, relieve the problems of time constraints for lesson preparation and inadequate lesson time, and teach students’ enquiry skills and collaborative skills. / published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Education

The advancing technology worldwide is a challenge to every creature on planet earth. People are thirsty for knowledge and resources to achieve their goals. Resource as the word implies is anything that a teacher can use to enhance a lesson. Resources then lead to the establishment of resource centres. Resource centres are where information or media materials are accessible. This place can keep resources such as computers, audio-visual resources, books and charts. Throughout the world researchers agree that for real learning to take place, learning and teaching must be as stimulating as possible, and this can be done through the use of different kinds of resources. The objective for writing this research report is to investigate the resources available to geography teachers. This project intends to inform all stakeholders in education about the impact of educational resources, in the light of overcrowded classrooms with few or no resources and the recruitment of too few and inadequately qualified teachers as is the norm today in rural areas of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2000.

Until recently educational geographers have concerned themselves largely with questions regarding those parts of the discipline which should be included in school and university curricula (Fitzgerald, 1969; Thomas, 1978). The advent of the quantitative and more recently the behavioural approaches to geography have focused attention on the nature of the discipline and educationalists faced with the change in emphasis from a regional to quantitative approach have incorporated new areas of study into the school curricula, without (in many cases) considering the needs of school children and their stages of conceptual development. The emphasis in geography teaching has in this manner moved away from a factual basis towards the teaching of concepts. Geographic concepts which are important for children to acquire have been defined by academic geographers (Hagget, 1975) but unfortunately little research has been undertaken into the teaching of these concepts. Only recently have geographers begun to show an interest in the way in which concepts are acquired by young pupils. In particular, the works of Blaut and Stea (1973, 1974), Catling (1978, 1978b, 1979), Balchin and Coleman (1973), Naish (1977), Cole and Beynon (1968, 1969), Rushdoony (1971) and Cracknell (1976) have focused attention on the need for geographic educators to understand the way in which pupils develop spatial concepts so that teaching strategies can be correctly planned. Deep seated prejudices regarding what children can understand at primary school are being subjected to careful analysis with sometimes surprising results (Blaut and Stea, 1974). Research into spatial concept formation and the teaching of geography is still in its infancy and more research is needed to enable geography at the primary school level to play a meaningful part in the total development of the child. In this regard the emphasis placed on the teaching of graphicacy needs special attention and mapwork skills need to be improved (Balchin and Cole, 1973). In this thesis an attempt is made to analyse and discuss the major theories of spatial concept development and to apply the ideas of the theorists to the practice of geography teaching in senior primary schools. The research into childrens' spatial concepts in two Natal primary schools, and into ways in which mapwork concepts can be utilised to aid spatial concept development, should help to improve the effectiveness of geography teaching at this level. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1980.

No description available.

Research has shown that in the South African school context textbooks are perceived as the most important guide to subject content. It is essential, therefore, that pupils and teachers should possess skills and strategies that they can use to interpret and understand the textbook. Equally, textbook writers ought to be aware of the cues pupils need to facilitate the learning process. Problems that hinder the learning of geography subject content from textbooks may arise from, among other things, the style in which the text is written, the way in which concepts are developed, the presentation of visual materials and elements of bias and stereotyping. This study scrutinises and analyses two standard 6 geography textbooks prescribed for Ciskei schools to assess the extent to which these textbooks consider the language competence of the pupils, explain and develop concepts, and in general promote the geographical education. Interviews with Ciskei teachers revealed that Standard 6 pupils encounter difficulties in the geography textbooks which are attributed to the fact that they are second language learners and they lack the requisite skills for interpreting visual materials. The analysis of the textbooks revealed that despite efforts made in recent years to rectify the most blatant aspects of bias and stereotyping and to improve the presentation of textbooks, a number of serious problems continue to exist particularly with regard to the Standard 6 learner of geography. The study attempts to alert writers of texbooks and teachers to factors which need to be taken into consideration to assist second language speakers toward effective learning.

Geography, more than other subjects in the curriculum, plays a central role in general education in equipping learners with skills and competencies needed for modern living and global citizenship. A learner-centred education in Namibia was adopted to provide more opportunities for learners to develop the required skills and competencies irrespective of their different cultural background. This small-scale case study investigated three Grade 10 geography teachers' understanding and implementation ofa learner-centred approach to gain insights into how leamer-centred education is being implemented in the context of Geography. The research design adopted a qualitative approach within an interpretative orientation. Data were collected through interviews, classroom observations and documentary analysis. The research was conducted at three selected schools in Oshikoto Region with three Grade 10 geography teachers The findings revealed, firstly, that teachers have a limited understanding of the key ideas ofLCE, such as, prior knowledge, role of questioning, and social interaction in learning; use of resources and the types of assessment activities which comply with the aims of LCE. Seconclly, the findings revealed that the policy documents, such as syllabuses, that are being used by the participants are not in line with the tenets ofLCE. Thirdly, teachers appeared to have limited subject knowledge, as revealed by their lack of understanding of how to translate the aims and assessment objectives into their daily lessons. The study therefore raises some possibilities for improving the implementation of LCE in the selected schools if the gaps as identified by this study are reduced.

Orientador: Fadel David Antonio Filho / Banca: Andrea Coelho Lastória / Banca: Valéria Cazetta / Banca: Maria Augusta Hermengarda Wurthman Ribeiro / Banca: Solange Terezinha de Lima Guimarães / Resumo: Esta tese compreende uma análise das imagens que elaboramos e/ou evocamos quando observamos a importância da compreensão da realidade, que se constitui com o ato da leitura e, consequentemente, da interpretação de textos de caráter didático, literário e também científico. Buscamos a identificação de possíveis imagens que resultam de tal (re)interpretação, associada, por sua vez, ao conhecimento geográfico. Assim, nossas reflexões se fundamentam na análise dos textos e da figura do HOMEM, presente nos três tipos de textos considerados, pois compreendemos sua atuação e interferência no espaço geográfico e, decorrente desta situação, questionamos quais imagens resultam e como interferem na consolidação do que denominamos Geografia da realidade e realidade geográfica. / Abstract:This work is about an analysis of the images that we elaborated and/or we evoke when we observe the importance of the understanding of the reality, that is constituted with the action of the reading and, consequently, of the interpretation of texts of didactic, literary and also scientific character. We looked for the identification of possible images that they can result of such (re)interpretation, associated, for its time, to the geographical knowledge. So, our reflections are based on the analysis of the texts and of the MAN'S figure, present in the three types of the considered texts, therefore we understood its performance and interference in the geographical space and, due to this situation, we questioned which images result and as they interfere in the consolidation of what we denominate as Geography of the reality and geographical reality. / Doutor