Viver, ensinar e aprender a cidade por meio do ensino de geografia: perspectivas para formação do pensamento geográfico e formação cidadã em cidades pequenas

Abstract

This research focuses on the relationship between the everyday lives of school-age youth in small towns and the teaching of Geography in schools. It is understood that life itineraries contribute to learning and teaching Geography. However, there are limits and weaknesses in the articulation between students’ urban spatial practices in small towns and Geography education, which hinder the structuring of meaningful teaching and learning processes. The general objective of this study is to analyze the possible articulations and interrelations between urban spatial practices and the teaching of Geography in the construction of learning and civic formation. From this perspective, the specific objectives are: to characterize small towns and the urban daily life of the study’s spatial focus; to identify the urban spatial practices of school-age youth in these settings; to establish relationships and connections between these practices and the teaching of Geography; to understand the role of students’ urban spatial practices in small towns in the process of making sense of geographic themes and content; and to outline formative possibilities, in light of Historical-Cultural Theory, for the teaching and learning process. In line with the research problem and objectives, the theoretical-methodological foundation is based on Historical and Dialectical Materialism, while the methodological approach follows a qualitative, participatory research model. Data and information were produced through of literature review and empirical fieldwork, structured in the following stages: technical observation in eight small towns and eight corresponding schools in the central-eastern region of the state of Tocantins; questionnaires administered to teachers and first-year high school students in the selected schools; and three Focus Group sessions conducted in each of two schools during the third stage of the empirical research. The theoretical and methodological framework for data production draws from Santos (2014a), who emphasizes the dimensions form, structure, function, and process in the understanding of space, while the learning processes are informed by the works of Vigotski (1987, 2000, 2007), Leontiev (1984, 2004, 2010), and Cavalcanti (2014, 2019a). For data analysis, this study adopted the three-dimensional model of Critical Discourse Analysis proposed by Fairclough (2001, 2010). The findings point to a clear gap between the city as lived and the city as taught in Geography classes. They also reveal that students’ daily lives are largely limited to fixed routes taken on foot, during which they observe and interpret different urban spatialities. Furthermore, the study highlights that leisure and recreational activities occur mostly in public spaces such as sports courts, town squares, river beaches, and the school itself. The results also identify ideological and hegemonic aspects, showing that the model of the city students develop through Geography education is that of the large metropolis, an ideal that reinforces their desire to leave their hometowns. In conclusion, the research identifies both limitations and significant potential in exploring the relationship between urban spatial practices and Geography education in the context of small towns.