Linguagem cartográfica e gamificação na formação de professores de geografia : caminhos para o pensamento geográfico

Abstract

This dissertation analyzed the potential of cartographic language articulated with gamification in the initial training of geography teachers, based on the construction and development of a didactic mediation path in the subject of school cartography. It was grounded in the understanding that geography teaching can favor the development of geographical thinking by mobilizing concepts, reasoning, and different languages, especially cartographic language, enabling students to recognize the relevance of geography in reading and interpreting socio-spatial reality. The research started from the observation that, in the school context, maps are still frequently used only as instruments for locating facts and phenomena, which limits more complex analyses of geographical situations. In this context, the objective was to understand the potential of cartographic language associated with gamification elements in the formation of geographical thinking in teachers in undergraduate courses. To this end, the study sought to identify the possibilities of Gamification in enhancing cartographic language in the teaching-learning process, verifying the presence of active methodologies and Gamification in lesson plans, and developing a didactic mediation path articulating cartographic language and gamified strategies in the formative process. The investigation was structured based on the theoretical foundation on School Cartography, geographical thinking and Gamification, on the results of the analysis of 43 lesson plans from face-to-face Geography undergraduate courses in Brazil and, mainly, on the implementation of a gamified path in a fourth-semester class with 14 future teachers in the evening Geography undergraduate course at the State University of Goiás, Anápolis Unit. The path articulated geographical content, cartographic language, geotechnologies and gamification strategies, focusing on the mobilization of the concept of landscape and on the reading, analysis and elaboration of cartographic representations. The results indicate that Gamification, when critically and coherently applied to the formative objectives of Geography, can contribute to student engagement, improve work with cartographic language, and develop geographical thinking. It is concluded that the integration of Gamification and School Cartography in Geography teaching constitutes a relevant pedagogical possibility in initial teacher training, provided it is understood as a didactic mediation strategy guided by clear educational purposes, and not reduced to a merely technical or motivational resource.