SCHOOL CARTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS: GEOTECHNOLOGIES AS A SUPPORT FOR CARTOGRAPHIC LITERACY

Abstract

Cartography plays an essential role in Geography education, allowing students to analyze space and understand situations from their daily lives. The aim of the article is to propose and apply a series of school Cartography workshops, supported by geotechnologies, aiming to develop the process of basic and functional Cartographic Literacy in students of basic education. A total of 27 seventh-grade students participated in the workshops, divided into two groups, X and Y. Methodologically, geotechnologies such as online Google Earth, an Augmented Reality app, and a compass app were used Four workshops were held: the first involved the introduction of the instructor and an attempt to create a word cloud based on the students' prior knowledge; the second workshop focused on types of views and types of images; the third workshop covered the cartographic alphabet and legend; and the fourth workshop addressed the concepts of proportion/scale, laterality, references, and orientation. Regarding the results, the students demonstrated affinity with the use of geotechnologies, enabling their use as enhancers of school Cartography teaching. The greatest difficulties of the participants were related to scale, proportion, laterality and the use of the cartographic alphabet. Progress was observed in the process of Cartographic Literacy, considering that in the first lesson, they did not make any connection between Cartography and their everyday experiences. However, in the subsequent workshops, they applied cartographic concepts to real-life situations. It is worth noting that the lived space was widely interpreted, generating discussions that made Geography teaching more engaging and meaningful.