Fabián Araya Palacios

Perspectives on Global Understanding in Ibero-American Countries

This chapter analyzes the different aspects of geographical education in Ibero-America, and more precisely, its contribution to global understanding from a spatial and territorial perspective thanks to the composition of networks such as Geoforo, Redladgeo and the NosPropomos! project. The authors debate the significance of this discipline in the building of a geographically informed citizen, aware of the potentials and limits of the territories in which he or she lives. Geographical education is presented as an ensemble of knowledge, skills, and attitudes of great importance for human education in each of the scales of the world-system. This discipline is also regarded as a pedagogical and academic field of great significance to build future generations in elementary education (basic education), secondary education (intermediate education) and higher level education.

Geographic Education for Sustainability: Developing a Bi-national Geographical Thinking Curriculum

This bi-national project develops geographical thinking by employing sustainability as a means of incorporating physical and human geography. Enlisting the support of Chilean and North American pre-service geography/social science teachers, we developed a series of standards-based lesson plans and associated curricular materials on the theme of sustainability that link the Coquimbo region of Chile with the state of Iowa in the United States. The chapter discusses the context of geographical thinking in both countries, as well as the history of geography education in the two nations, to include how teachers in both national educational systems can support geographical thinking. We emphasise the significance of sustainability in integrating the physical and human traditions in geography. The chapter highlights the value of geography education in creating civic responsibility, developing students’ cognitive skills in geographical thinking and directing those skills towards the systemic comprehension of our contemporary, interconnected world. We assert the key international importance of sustainability and the need to connect local issues, events, and problems with the larger global context and with similar occurrences across the globe.

El espacio geográfico, una construcción escolar. Un estudio de caso: los alumnos del valle del Limarí

El espacio es el objeto especifico de la geografia, pero existen pocos estudios empiricos sobre su aprendizaje escolar. El tema del trabajo corresponde a la construccion escolar del espacio geografico, en el contexto rural. El objetivo es investigar hasta que punto las habilidades cognitivas del alumnado, asi como la metodologia utilizada con el aporte de los materiales curriculares disenados, con ayuda de instituciones academicas, son factores determinantes en la explicacion de los elementos que configuran el espacio geografico. El problema de investigacion es el siguiente: el espacio y el territorio son objetos de conocimiento geografico que se construyen en la ensenanza escolar de forma conceptual y compartimentada, dificultando la comprension del medio proximo y la espacialidad en diferentes escalas. Para su desarrollo se utiliza metodologia cuantitativa y cualitativa, basada en la investigacion-accion. En el diseno participa un grupo experimental y un grupo control. Los cursos participantes corresponden a Primer ano de Educacion Media A y B del Liceo Eduardo Frei Montalva de la comuna rural de Monte Patria, IV Region, Chile.

Developing Standards-Based Geography Curricular Materials from Overseas Field Experiences for K–12 Teachers

Abstract Overseas experiences provide educators with exceptional opportunities to incorporate field study, firsthand experiences, and tangible artifacts into the classroom. Despite this potential, teachers must consider curricular standards that direct how such international endeavors can be integrated. Furthermore, geography curriculum development is more relevant when teachers link tangible local processes and events with those occurring in distant world regions. As such, this article demonstrates how a structured international field experience for K–12 educators incorporated geography curricular standards, and population geography as a common theme, to develop widely transferable curricular materials that advance students’ understanding of Chile and Latin American area studies.