Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-81). Also available in print.

Research on the cognitive style field dependence-independence establishes its influence on learning and students' outcomes across academic disciplines and at all levels of schooling. Field dependent learners generally perform less well than field independent individuals in most instructional environments. The consequences of cognitive style differences have not been thoroughly pursued by geography educators, and field dependent learners are generally disadvantaged. Review of literature suggests that field dependent learners may perform well in hypermedia-based environments configured to support their learning needs. This study presented geography students with a computer program that contained jigsaw puzzles made from maps and randomly varied the type of interactivity available to learners when solving the puzzles. Field dependent learners were expected to solve the puzzles more quickly and accurately when they were able to interact with the jigsaw puzzle. The interactive treatments provided by the program did not improve the performance of field dependent individuals as expected. / Ph. D.

This thesis studied the relationship between current event knowledge and the ability to construct a mental map of the world. It was hypothesized that participates with more current event knowledge would demonstrate better mental mapping abilities. The study was designed using two activities recommended for 12th graders by Geography for Life, National Geography Standards 1994, and the theory of spatial familiarity (Kitchen, 1994b; Gale et al., 1990, Golledge & Spector, 1978). One hundred-twenty eight students drawn from two courses offered at Virginia Tech completed a participant profile questionnaire, a current event quiz, drew a map of the world outlining the seven continents, and located and labeled 27 cities on a world map. Using ATLAS GIS the sketch maps and place locations were digitally transformed and scored for accuracy. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze current event knowledge, place location ability, and sketch mapping ability. Using Spearman rank correlation, the relationship between current event knowledge and mental mapping abilities was assessed at a number of levels. Results indicate that participants with a stronger understanding of current events tended to create a more accurate mental map of the world. That is, place location accuracy and drawing accuracy correlated with current event knowledge. However, similar to previous research (Cross, 1987; Helgren, 1983; Muller, 1985) place location knowledge outside of North America and Western Europe was poor. The results of this thesis offer baseline data that can be used for future research to study the effectiveness of the national standards set forth in Geography for Life. / Master of Science

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Jacqueline D. Spears / Scientists agree that there is ample evidence of climate change and that a significant portion of the change is anthropogenically driven. Leiserowitz et al. (2011b) asked teenagers about their understanding of the climate system and the causes of climate change. Fewer than 20% of respondents classified themselves as “very well informed” and only 27% reported that they learned “a lot” about climate change in school. However, of these teenagers, 70% expressed a desire for more climate change education. Even though the idea of human impacts on the climate system and a changing climate have been known and discussed within science education for several decades, dedicating classroom time for teaching climate change is not a common practice. Focus group discussions with science and agricultural education teachers (Pytlikzillig et al., 2013) emphasized the need for the use of locally relevant data in the classroom as a means to engage students in critical thinking activities that require them to use and draw conclusions from these data. However, most teachers do not have access to such data or a working knowledge of technological platforms from which they can have the students observe, manipulate, and analyze these data. This study used a mixed methods research design to explore the use of a GIS-based framework for teaching climate change. A two-part intervention was used: 1) teacher training, and 2) classroom implementation. Student-, teacher-, and classroom-centered data were collected to address student outcomes, teacher perceptions of GIS use in teaching climate change, and both students’ and teachers’ perceptions of challenges and successes of using GIS in the classroom. Students showed an overall positive growth in knowledge. Teachers shared a positive perception regarding the use of GIS to teach climate change, going so far as to report that they will all continue to teach climate change and use GIS in their classrooms. Successes and challenges were observed in classrooms, recognizing the benefits of student engagement and learning, as well as the challenges of using technology and supporting student needs. This exploratory research supports the premise that using a GIS-based framework to teach climate change is practical, reproducible, and effective.

In 2003 school geography was in a state of crisis: enrolment in GCSE geography courses had fallen by a third over the previous eight years. In response, a radical new ‘pilot’ geography GCSE course was designed and implemented in England. The GCSE was an attempt to rejuvenate a school subject that had become out of date, with little change to its content since the inauguration of the National Curriculum in 1988. With student-centred learning at its heart the GCSE aimed to make the subject much more exciting and relevant to young people. The following thesis examines alternative pedagogical approaches to teaching school geography that draw on young people’s experiences as citizens and consumers to make geography more relevant and interesting to them. Written as an unfolding story this multi-sited ethnography began by exploring the networks behind the pilot. This involved not only several different actors/groups of actors (including geography educators, academic geographers, geography teachers and school pupils) but also several different spaces (including schools, classrooms, organisation headquarters, working group meetings and publications). It moves on to examine how the GCSE’s approaches to teaching, learning and assessing were being played out in practice and to what extent its aims, claims and intentions were being realised in the classroom. Through exploring the pilot’s approach to the pedagogy of school geography my research became action-oriented in approach, and I became involved in co-creating critical, connective curriculum materials for the GCSE. The development of these new materials and teaching and learning strategies are situated within debates in human geography about critical pedagogy, young people’s geographies and public geographies and the thesis forges links between these different theoretical strands. I conclude by asking what lessons can be learnt from the pilot GCSE and its implications for the role of geography within a wider educational context. Written autoethnographically to reflect the collaborative and iterative nature of my research my intention has been to critically engage with multiple publics who are involved in this area.

As frequentes demonstrações de desinteresse pela disciplina Geografia por parte dos alunos e a desmotivação por parte dos professores foram os motivos que impulsionaram a presente pesquisa. Na preocupação de buscar alternativas para uma aprendizagem significativa, o objetivo deste estudo é explorar os conhecimentos prévios dos alunos, por meio da elaboração de mapas conceituais de paisagem geográfica, demonstrar que o papel da escola não é apenas consolidar o conceito, mas que, o que se aprende na escola tem relação com a vida. Para isso, buscou-se aporte teórico da Aprendizagem Significativa em Ausubel e referência metodológica da construção de mapas conceituais de Novak. A partir da delimitação da Paisagem como objeto de estudo, elegeram-se as turmas das 6ª séries (7º ano), do Ensino Fundamental, de duas escolas públicas do município de Maringá-PR que participaram das atividades propostas de observação, trabalho de campo, construção de mapas conceiuais e elaboração de textos. O resultado da investigação indica que os conceitos teóricos foram melhor apreendidos quando asociados aos conhecimenos que se relacionam com suas vidas. / The frequent demonstrations of miss interest for the subject Geography, for the students, and the lack of motivation, for the professors, had been the reasons that had stimulated the present research. In the concern to search alternatives for a significant learning, the objective of this study is to explore the previous knowledge of the students by means of the elaboration of conceptual geographic maps landscape and to demonstrate that the importance of the school is not only to consolidate the theoretic concept, but to emphasize that what is learned in the school it is relate to life. For this search the meaning was to reach theoretical support of the Significant Learning in Ausubel and methodological reference of the construction of conceptual maps of Novak. From the delimitation of the Landscape as object of study, it chose the groups of 6ª series (7º year) of Elementary Education of two public schools of the city of Maringá-PR, that had participated of the activities comment proposals, work on field, construction of conceptual maps and elaboration of papers. The result of the inquiry indicates that the theoretical concepts had been better lernead when associates to the knowledge related to their lives.

O presente trabalho aborda a Cartografia Tátil Escolar, com destaque para a análise e discussão da importância do mapa tátil na formação continuada de professores, assim como sua aplicação no ensino de Geografia e Cartografia para pessoas com deficiência visual, em escolas de ensino fundamental e médio. Foi incluído um estudo sobre a produção e uso de materiais didáticos táteis, de forma a orientar professores e prepará-los para o ensino de Geografia voltado a estudantes com deficiência visual. A Cartografia Escolar está na interface entre a Cartografia, a Educação e a Geografia, na busca de desenvolver metodologias de ensino/aprendizagem do mapa e de construção do espaço pela criança. As atividades cartográficas nas aulas de Geografia são importantes para auxiliar análises e para desenvolver habilidades de observação, percepção e representação do espaço. Daí a importância do manuseio, reprodução, interpretação e construção de mapas. Os PCNs (Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais) do Brasil destacam a importância da Cartografia Escolar ao apontar como um dos objetivos do ensino da Geografia no ensino fundamental saber utilizar a linguagem cartográfica para obter informações e representar a espacialidade dos fenômenos geográficos. Os PCNs também sugerem blocos temáticos, listando conteúdos que incluem a leitura e compreensão das informações expressas em linguagem cartográfica. As representações gráficas que são apreendidas essencialmente pela visão, também podem ser percebidas pelo tato, desde que construídas com este objetivo. A inclusão de estudantes com deficiência visual em classes regulares requer que as escolas possam disponibilizar materiais cartográficos adaptados ao tato e professores preparados para lidar com esta realidade. Este trabalho apresenta e discute experiências com cursos de formação continuada de professores e sua aplicação no ensino de Cartografia na educação básica, particularmente para pessoas com deficiência visual, tanto em escolas especializadas no atendimento destes estudantes, quanto em escolas em geral. Fez parte da pesquisa, uma descrição e análise dos cursos e oficinas sobre cartografia tátil e ensino de geografia para pessoas com deficiência visual, realizados entre agosto de 2006 e outubro de 2009, no Brasil e no Chile, dentro de um projeto internacional desenvolvido em conjunto pela Universidade de São Paulo e Universidade Tecnológica Metropolitana. Durante estes cursos percebeu-se a dificuldade dos professores em trabalhar a cartografia em sala de aula, particularmente, a cartografia tátil. Os cursos de formação continuada significam um avanço na qualidade de ensino de estudantes com deficiência visual e a difusão de técnicas de construção de materiais didáticos adaptados, assim como orientações para sua utilização são renovações pedagógicas significativas que ampliam o uso dos materiais para todos os estudantes. / The main theme of this research is School Tactile Cartography, particularly the analysis and discussion of the tactile map production and use, including its relevance in the teaching of geography and cartography. The study also highlighted the need to improve the continuing education of school teachers, in order to prepare them to include students with visual impairment at the classroom. School Cartography is at the crossroads between Cartography, Education and Geography, and it is taught with the aim of developing map teaching and learning methodologies, and children \'s conceptualization of space. NCPs (National Curricular Parameters) in Brazil emphasize the importance of \"knowing how to use cartographic language in order to obtain information and create a spatial representation of geographical phenomena\", through the teaching of Cartography as one of the objectives in the Geography teaching program in the primary and high school education system. NCPs also suggest thematic issues, listing content that includes \"the assessment and interpretation of information expressed in cartographic language\". Cartographic activities in Geography classes are important to develop spatial abilities of an observational, perceptual and representative nature. Graphic representations are essentially visual and perceived by sight, but they may also be analyzed by touch, as long as they are designed with this purpose in mind. The presence of visually-challenged students in regular class rooms requires schools to make cartographic material that may be adapted for touch available to these students and to prepare teachers to deal with this reality. As for the training of teachers, it can be stated that the quality of teaching, educational reforms and pedagogic renovations are fundamental elements in the initial and further education programs for these teachers. This study analyzes the importance of further education courses for teachers and their application to the teaching of Cartography in schools, particularly for students with visual impairment, both in specialized or regular schools. Courses and workshops on Tactile Cartography and the teaching of Geography, held between August 2006 and October 2008 in Brazil and Chile, were selected for description and analysis in this study. This is part of an international project developed in cooperation with the University of São Paulo and the Metropolitan Technological University in Chile. Through these courses, it was possible to see the difficulties that teachers face in working with Cartography, and especially Tactile Cartography, in the classroom. Further education courses can be an improvement in the teaching and the dissemination of techniques involved in the creation of tactile didactic material, in the same manner that guidelines for their use may represent significant pedagogic renovation that will increase the use this material by all students.

A presente dissertação busca explorar as potencialidades da argumentação, com base na estrutura do argumento de Toulmin (2006), no estudo do conceito de território (SANTOS, 2006; TAMAYO, 2011), em aulas de Geografia orientadas aos anos finais do ensino fundamental. Para tanto, foi elaborada e aplicada uma sequência didática que inclui a solução de problemas da cidade. O processo de argumentação e a produção escrita dos alunos do 9º ano foram analisadas na resolução de um problema do habitar na cidade. Observamos vantagens em se trabalhar com argumentação no Ensino de Geografia, tanto para aprendizagem conceitual quanto do raciocínio geográfico (ROQUE ASCENÇÃO; VALADÃO, 2014; 2017). Pudemos identificar elementos que compõem um argumento geográfico. / The present dissertation seeks to explore potentialities of argumentation, based on Toulmin´s argument pattern (TOULMIN, 2006) on the study of territory (SANTOS, 2006; TAMAYO, 2011) as a concept in Geography classes oriented to the last grades of elementary school. For this purpose, a didactic sequence that includes problem solution of the city was built and applied. Argumentation process and written production of last grade students of elementary school were analyzed during the resolution of a city habitation problem. Advantages of working with argumentation in Geography teaching for conceptual as well as geographic reasoning learning (ROQUE ASCENÇÃO; VALADÃO, 2014; 2017) were observed. Elements that can compose geographic argument were identified.

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No. of bitstreams: 2 PIEPER, Carmen Isabel.pdf: 5695143 bytes, checksum: b96dd8b55e16f8e3ae959eaaaf4c53ca (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-10-09 / Sem bolsa / A presente pesquisa parte do pressuposto que a representação do espaço para a criança é uma construção internalizada a partir das ações e das manipulações sobre o ambiente espacial próximo do qual ela faz parte. Dessa forma, a investigação teve por finalidade abordar o Ensino da Geografia na Educação Infantil, haja vista sua notória importância desde as idades mais tenras, por contribuir para o desenvolvimento de noções de representação, orientação, paisagem, lateralidade, lugar e espaço. Considerando o contexto exposto, a presente pesquisa destina-se a responder a seguinte questão: fundamentando-se nas propostas de políticas públicas para a educação infantil, quais são as orientações existentes para qualificar seu ensino de geografia no âmbito da 5ª CRE, realizadas pelos municípios e estado? Para respondê-la, objetivou-se compreender o que está sendo proposto pelos poderes públicos nas esferas estadual e municipal em Pelotas e seu entorno para o ensino de Geografia na Educação Infantil. Seu quadro conceitual foi composto majoritariamente pelo Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil, com ênfase nas propostas curriculares para a Educação Infantil, e as Diretrizes Curriculares para Educação Infantil, aprofundando-os com teóricos da geografia que discutem séries iniciais e Educação Infantil, além de alguns autores que trabalham com conceito de ludicidade. A análise foi centrada no conceito de espaço, lugar, paisagem, corpo e lateralidade. Compõe a metodologia entrevistas semiestruturadas, aplicadas com as servidoras responsáveis pela da Educação Infantil nas cidades já determinadas e na sede da 5ª CRE. Com a conclusão da pesquisa, constatou-se que há uma descaracterização da atividade docente enquanto profissional da Educação Infantil, fazendo com que o conhecimento geográfico seja trabalhado com as crianças calcado no espontaneismo, desprovido de claros objetivos a serem atingidos. Averiguou-se também que o RCNEI carece de aprofundamento e atualização, no que se refere à ciência geográfica, o RCNEI a aborda de forma demasiadamente simplificada e sem aprofundamentos, sobretudo quanto a caros e fundamentais elementos que subsidiam o entendimento do espaço. E, por fim, constatou-se a necessidade de uma formação permanente do professor da Educação Infantil. Portanto, torna-se muito difícil ainda, nessa conjuntura, acreditar que as estruturas de pensamento das crianças sofrerão mudanças significativas que repercutam na possibilidade de elas compreenderem de modo diferenciado tanto os objetos quanto a linguagem usada para representá-los, como bem aconselhou o Referencial. / The present work assumes the space representativeness to a child is an inner construction from actions and manipulations upon the special environment which belongs to. Therefore, the investigation aimed to approach Geography teaching in Children's Education, considering its notorious importance since early ages, due to its contribution to the development of notions of representation, orientation, landscape, laterality, place and space. Regarding the exposed context, in this research we wish to answer the following question: basing on public policies proposals to children's education, which are the existent orientations to qualify children education on teaching Geography within 5ª CRE by the cities and the state ? To answer it, it was aimed to understand what is being proposed by public authorities in the state and in the city in Pelotas and around to Geography teaching in children's education. Its conceptual aspect was mainly composed by Referencial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil, with emphasis in the curricular proposals to children's education, and the Diretrizes Curriculares para Educação Infantil. Its concept were manly composed by Referêncial Curricular Nacional para a Educação Infantil, deepining those with Geography theorists who discuss inicial grades and Children Education, besides some authors who work with ludicity. The analyses was centered in the concept of space, place, landscape, body and laterality. It composes the metodology semistructured interviews, aplied with servers responsible for children education in cities that have already been determined by 5ª CRE. In the conclusion it was found that there is one mischaracterization of the teaching process while children's education professionals which turns the geographic knowledge is worked based on spontaneism, destituted of clear goals to be achieved. It was also investigated that RCNEI lacks of deepening and updating, concerning geographic science, RCNEI approaches the topic in a simpler way and without any deepening, especially regarding space fundamental elements. Finally, have been discovered a necessity of permanent formation of children education teacher. Thus, it is even harder, in this conjecture, thinking that children's structure thoughts will suffer any profound changes that reverberates in the possibility of them understanding in different way both objects and language used to represent them, as the referential has been advised.

O autor deste trabalho parte pressupõe que a articulação entre a Educação Geográfica e a Cartografia Escolar possui grande relevância para o desenvolvimento do pensamento espacial dos estudantes da escola básica. Essa dimensão da inteligência é essencial para a cidadania consciente e para o exercício das mais diversas atividades profissionais e cotidianas. Considerando esse cenário, o objetivo central desta pesquisa é avaliar qual é o nível de contribuição da Educação Geográfica e da Cartografia Escolar no segmento do 6º ao 9º anos do ensino fundamental para que os alunos sejam capazes de ampliar sua capacidade de pensar espacialmente em situações que envolvem representações espaciais, sobretudo as cartográficas, aplicadas a contextos geográficos. Para isso, recorremos ao campo de pesquisas do pensamento espacial (spatial thinking), desenvolvido principalmente nos Estados Unidos no decorrer das últimas décadas. Dessa forma, adotamos como definição do pensamento espacial a que foi apresentada no relatório do National Research Council (2006) e que tornou-se a referência nessa seara de investigação: Pensamento espacial um tipo de pensamento é baseado na amálgama de três elementos: conceitos espaciais, instrumentos de representação e processos de raciocínio (NRC, 2006, ix). Nossa metodologia envolveu dois caminhos distintos, mas articulados. Realizamos a análise das três coleções de livros didáticos de Geografia mais adotadas no segmento de 6º ao 9º anos do ensino fundamental brasileiro, com a finalidade de avaliar em que medida os exercícios e atividades presentes nessas obras contribuem para o desenvolvimento do pensamento espacial discente. A título de parâmetro comparativo, fizemos o mesmo com uma coleção de didáticos franceses destinados à mesma faixa de escolaridade. Para realizar essa avaliação das atividades utilizamos a Taxonomia do Pensamento Espacial de Jo e Bednarz (2009), criada exatamente para essa finalidade e replicada por Scholz et al. (2014). O levantamento identificou não apenas a proporção de questões demandantes do pensamento espacial, mas o nível dos processos de raciocínio envolvidos e o tipo de representação espacial utilizado. O segundo caminho metodológico foi a aplicação do Teste de Aptidão do Pensamento Espacial (STAT, em inglês), desenvolvido por Lee e Bednarz (2012), a 268 alunos brasileiros do 9º ano do ensino fundamental, em seis escolas diferentes. Após a tabulação dos dados realizamos uma análise comparativa entre os resultados dos alunos brasileiros e os números resultantes das aplicações do mesmo teste em dois contextos internacionais: uma escola estadunidense (LEE e BEDNARZ, 2012) e os de três escolas em Ruanda (TOMASZEWSKI et al., 2014). A análise incluiu tanto os resultados globais do teste quanto os resultados dos alunos de cada instituição em cada um dos oito grupos de modalidades do pensamento espacial considerados pelos elaboradores do STAT. Nossas conclusões finais resultaram do cotejo das informações obtidas a partir dessas duas linhas metodológicas. / The author of this thesis believes that Geography Education and School Cartography have both great importance for the development of spatial thinking among students in K-12. This dimension of intelligence is crucial for citizenship and for the practice of many professional and daily activities. Considering such a framework, the main goal of this research is to assess the contribution of Geography Education and School Cartography in Brazilian middle school to enhance students capacity to think spatially in situations that encompass spatial representations, specially cartographic ones, in geographical contexts. To answer this question we decided to betake the field research known as spatial thinking, developed mostly in the U.S. during the last two decades. As a consequence we adopted the definition of spatial thinking that was presented in the report of the National Research Council (2006), which has become the main reference in the field: Spatial thinkingone form of thinking is based on a constructive amalgam of three elements: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning (NRC, 2006, ix). Our methodology was based on two interconnected paths. We analyzed the three most adopted Geography textbooks collections for the four years of Brazilian middle school (6th to 9th grades) with the purpose of assessing in which extent the exercises in those books are capable of fostering students spatial thinking. In order to stablish a comparison with Brazilian textbooks we also assessed a French textbook collection destined to the same grade levels. To perform such an assessment, we used the Taxonomy of Spatial Thinking (Jo and Bednarz, 2009) designed for this particular purpose and replied by Scholz et al. (2014). The study identified not only the ratio of questions demanding spatial thinking but also the processes of reasoning involved. The second methodological path was based on the use of the Spatial Thinking Ability Test (STAT), designed by Lee and Bednarz (2012). We have administered the STAT to 268 students of six different Brazilian schools, all of them in the end of the 9th grade. After organizing all the data, we compared the Brazilian results with those of two international studies where the same test was administered: one school in the United States (LEE and BEDNARZ, 2012) and three schools in Ruanda (TOMASZEWSKI et al., 2014). Our analysis included both the global results of students overall performance in the test and their accomplishments regarding the eight modes of thinking spatially defined by the authors of the STAT. Our final conclusions were the results of the comparison between the outcomes obtained from our two methodological paths.