Geographical reasoning and critical cartography as theoretical and methodological axes for teacher training in school cartography courses

Abstract

This paper aims to address the connections between geographic reasoning, spatial thinking, and critical cartography as axes for Geographic Education. It is argued that the development of geographic reasoning by students should be the primary and defining objective of Geography in Brazilian schools. This work is initially contextualized within the framework of a four-year collective research project, linked to the School Cartography Study Group (GECE). Next, the authors' relevance and conception of geographic reasoning are addressed, supported by the field's bibliography. The subsequent section presents the understanding and foundations of spatial thinking and how it articulates with geographic reasoning. The fourth section discusses the perspective inherent to critical cartography and its relevance to teaching Geography using maps. Finally, the authors make an effort to summarize the key ideas of the text and present a small illustrative example of a pedagogical action to mobilize students' geographic reasoning, with the inherent procedure of spatial thinking in a critical cartography framework.