No description available.

Mapwork is an established part of the geography curriculum, and yet it poses particular problems for pupils and teachers. Maps participate in a complex system of graphic communication: the conceptual abstraction involved in the reading and interpretation of maps requires on the part of pupils a high degree of cognitive and perceptual development; teachers, too, often experience considerable difficulty in imparting the skills necessary for graphic literacy (graphicacy). The peculiar difficulties associated with map reading and the poor performance of pupils in this area have regrettably encouraged an attitude which dismisses mapwork as irrelevant or dispensable in geographical education. Yet graphicacy is essential not only in the learning of geography but in the overall cognitive development of the child, and therefore cannot be excluded from the curriculum. This study attempts to identify some of the specific difficulties experienced by pupils in their attempts to read and interpret maps, and to trace the origin of these difficulties. It argues that the complexity and sophistication of the skills necessary to interpret topographical maps and aerial photographs, for instance, should not be underestimated. Teachers need to be made aware of how pupils acquire map reading skills and of the problems they encounter during this process, so that teaching programmes commensurate with pupils' level of cognitive development can be formulated. It is also important that mapwork be taught in as practical a manner as possible. The findings and recommendations of this study have implications for geography teachers, textbook writers and educational authorities, especially those involved in curriculum and syllabus design.

Orientadores: Maurício Compiani, Fernanda Keila Marinho da Silva / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T11:38:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Cracel_VivianeLousada_M.pdf: 8549893 bytes, checksum: f13c827887462976386d3d0bf5a7b6a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Não são poucos os trabalhos acadêmicos que discutem o uso do mapa no ensino brasileiro e podemos dividi-los, basicamente, em três grandes linhas de pesquisa: metodologias de ensino, técnicas de comunicação cartográfica e teorias da aprendizagem. Este estudo relaciona-se a esse terceiro grupo e se constitui em um desafio, pois ainda são poucos os trabalhos que utilizam Vygotsky e/ou Bakhtin como referenciais teóricos no ensino de cartografia, em que há o predomínio dos pressupostos piagetianos. O objetivo principal é investigar as contribuições do trabalho com mapas para a construção de conhecimentos cartográficos. O olhar é voltado para a compreensão do processo de apropriação/elaboração desses conhecimentos por um grupo de adolescentes do segundo ano do Ensino Médio de uma escola estadual de Campinas, SP. Pretende-se também, ressaltar a importância da contextualização dos conteúdos articulando-os com o local de vivência dos alunos e possibilitando o cotejamento dos conceitos científicos e cotidianos em sala de aula; além de mostrar que o potencial do mapa como instrumento de ensino vai muito além da simples localização de lugares e fenômenos, sendo um importante recurso para a aprendizagem. Por considerar que essa construção é social e ocorre na interação dos sujeitos, este estudo está alicerçado na perspectiva histórico-cultural do desenvolvimento humano e tem como referenciais teóricos iniciais e principais os pressupostos da Psicologia Histórico-Cultural de Vygotsky e da Teoria da Enunciação de Bakhtin. Esses autores, por sua vez, orientaram a investigação qualitativa e colaborativa, implicando nas características processuais do trabalho com registro em um diário de campo e gravações em áudio, e pautadas em situações dialógicas, ou seja, na interação entre os sujeitos envolvidos. É mediada pelas ideias desses dois autores, em interação com as vozes de seus estudiosos na análise dos materiais produzidos pelos alunos e nas interlocuções em sala de aula, que almejamos compreender os processos de elaboração conceitual, particularmente os conceitos geográficos, com mapas em ambiente escolar. Por meio desses enunciados foi possível compreender o caminho trilhado, considerando que são apropriações dos alunos em relação aos conteúdos estudados. Este trabalho vincula-se ao projeto FAPESP Ensino Público intitulado "Elaboração de conhecimentos escolares e curriculares relacionados à ciência, à sociedade e ao ambiente na escola básica com ênfase na regionalização a partir dos resultados de projeto de Políticas Públicas / Abstract: There are a considerable number of academic papers that discuss the use of the map in Brazilian education and we can divide them basically on three main research fields: teaching methodology, cartographic communication techniques and theories of learning. This study is related to this third group and constitutes a challenge because there are few studies that use Vygotsky and/or Bakhtin as theoretical reference in the cartography education, where there is a predominance of Piagetian assumptions. The central objective is to investigate the contributions of working with maps to the construction of cartographic knowledge. The look is aimed to understanding the process of conceptual appropriation/elaboration traversed by a group of teenagers in the second year of high school to a public school in Campinas, SP. We also intend to emphasize the importance of contextualizing concepts linking them with local experience of students, enabling dialogue between the scientific and everyday concepts in the classroom; besides showing that the potential of the map as a teaching tool goes far beyond simple locating places and phenomena, being an important resource for learning. Considering that this construction is social and occurs in the subject's interactions, this research is grounded in the historical-cultural perspective of human development and has as initial and main theoretical reference the assumptions of Historical-Cultural Psychology of Vygotsky and the Theory of Enunciation of Bakhtin. These authors, in turn, oriented the qualitative and collaborative research, implying the procedural characteristics of work guided by the participant observation, recorded in a diary and audio recordings, and in the dialogic situations, i.e., in the interaction between subjects involved. It is mediated by the ideas of these two authors in interaction with the voices of their scholars in the analysis of the materials produced by the students and in the dialogues in the classroom that we aim to understand the processes of conceptual elaboration, mainly the geographical, with maps at school. Through the enunciations analyzed was possible to comprehend the way followed, considering that they are student's appropriations face the contents studied. This study is related to the FAPESP's Public Education Research Program entitled "Construction of school and curricular knowledge relative to science, society and environment at primary and secondary school with emphases in the local conditions from results of Public Politicians projects / Mestrado / Ensino e Historia de Ciencias da Terra / Mestre em Ensino e Historia de Ciencias da Terra

Access to the to the Internet and to a variety of interactive mapping tools has increased interest among middle school teachers to use interactive maps in conjunction with learning activities. There is very little research in the area of interactive mapping in educational situations, specifically with regards to layer maps that combine multiple thematic layers on a single map. This study evaluates the relationship between the number of layers present on a web-based map and middle-school students' accuracy and timeliness using the map to answer geographic questions. Additionally, this study examines the specific effect of a hill shade on student response time and accuracy when answering questions do not require any terrain information. Tests were conducted in five Portland, Oregon area middle school classrooms using Blackboard CE8 to present maps and collect responses. The results of this research indicate no significant relationship between the number of layers present on a web map and middle school students' accuracy or response times while using the map to answer questions. The presence of a hillshade layers does not significantly impact the students' response times or accuracy while answering questions while using the map either.

This is an interpretative case study of four Grahamstown Education District Further Education and Training (FET) schools. The study sets out to investigate how Geography teachers integrate mapwork and environmental issues using local context, with the intention of providing insights for future professional development. Data for this study were generated using qualitative methods such as document analysis, semi-structured interviews and lesson observations. Interviews were conducted with geography teachers, the subject advisor and a workshop facilitator. The evidence generated in the study revealed that contrary to the integrative design of the curriculum, there is a superficial integration of mapwork and environmental issues as well as a cursory reference to and use of local context. This was noted in both professional development support workshops and classroom practice. The study finds that efforts to improve performance in geography need to pay closer attention to curriculum policy that calls for an integration and localization of knowledge and skills for coherence and relevance. It also notes that there is a need for a focus on real-world problem solving in social, economic, cultural and physical environments through the use of inquiry-based local fieldwork. Local investigations provide an integrative space for content and skills as well as being an important point of reference from which learners can compare and contrast issues in other places such as provincial, national, continental, and global locations. A professional development programme that emphasizes integration and contextualization alongside the current focus on basic skills training is proposed to improve what teachers are delivering in the classroom and to support enquiry-based fieldwork and research to strengthen a place-based relevance in local, national and international contexts. Finally an exemplar for professional development is briefly developed for the topic of soil erosion.

There has been much concern recently about the lack of basic map and globe skills among America's youth. Map and globe skills are a basic tool of social studies used throughout the rest of students' academic, professional and personal lives. These skills incorporate the development of problem-solving and critical-thinking skills. The focus of this project was to develop a map and globe skills curriculum for teaching these skills to sixth-graders in Putnam County, Florida, when they first encounter daily social studies classes. Although curricula have been developed, they do not include all of the objectives necessary to teach sixth-grade Putnam County students who possess different levels of competence. The curriculum incorporates suggestions from the review of related literature. While the curriculum accommodates the average student, it can be adapted to the learning abilities of all students. Because sixth-graders are generally in Piaget's concrete-operational stage of cognitive development and learn best using "hands-on" activities, the suggested lesson plans stress these types of learning experiences.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education