GIS presence in Geography textbooks – a highway to spatial thinking development?
Abstract
It is our intention to present some of the preliminary results of an international comparison of Geography textbooks, worldwide, that we are developing using the assets of Georg-Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research (GEI). It has been analyzed 43 textbooks from 24 countries dating between 2005 and 2011 in order to know the different didactical approaches of it, like orientations by objectives, competences, skills, geographic literacy or spatial thinking. One aspect that we analyzed in those textbooks, as a case study, it was the approach to GIS (Geographical Information Systems) because they are, as it is said by the reference literature, a privileged tool to develop the spatial thinking in pupils. In this way, we analyzed the textbooks and we identified 3 main groups of countries looking to the approach of GIS in Geography textbooks. It is our intention to present this characterization and some examples of GIS in Geography textbooks that can develop spatial thinking in pupils. The knowledge and the discussion of these aspects can contribute for a better approach and integration of GIS in Geography textbooks in several countries in order to improve the spatial thinking development.
Downloads
Published
2013-02-22
Issue
Section
Articles
License
The Author assigns to the Nuova Cultura and to Italian Association of Geography Teachers all rights under copyright that can exist in and to the submitted paper. The Author warrants that the paper and images (photos, maps, graphs etc.) are original and that he/she is the Author of the submitted contribution and its parts; in the case of images taken by other publications, the Author must provide a specific authorization and must pay in advance any copyright.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
