Which Geography to Teach?

Abstract

The teaching of geography in schools is in difficulties in almost all European countries. The main causes are the selection of topics to teach, the exclusively thematic conception of the contents and the resistance to change teaching methods. The application of a socio-didactical paradigm and a cultural-critical model in the interpretation of the territory could contribute to a change in teaching in schools. This approach implies the consideration of present-day problems which convert the study of geography into an instrument for positive thinking and for the democratic production of the earth by society. This article analyses how school geography can, on the one hand, play a part in the social objectives of teaching and in the scientific evolution of the discipline, and, on the other, maintain its coherence within the plurality of geographical approaches which make up a dynamically organized system-and not just a simple, structured grouping. Two examples illustrate the interaction between geographical problems and the region studied.