Alfabetización en Geografía y mapas mentales. Los conocimientos mínimos entre los estudiantes universitarios de Educación Primaria

Abstract

En el marco de una reflexión sobre el papel discontinuo y marginal de la Geografía en el sistema educativo español, se examinan los conocimientos mínimos en Geografía de los estudiantes del Grado de Educación Primaria. Para ello, se analizan los mapas mentales de las islas Baleares realizados por los estudiantes de segundo curso del Grado de Educación Primaria de la Universidad de las Islas Baleares, como instrumento de medida con el que se pretende calibrar el nivel de alfabetización en Geografía de los futuros maestros. La prueba se inspira en los contenidos, habilidades y competencias que aparecen en el nuevo currículum de Ciencias Sociales de Educación Primaria según la LOMCE. En general, se constata la poca habilidad de los estudiantes en la elaboración de los mapas así como un escaso dominio de los códigos convencionales del lenguaje cartográfico. Asimismo, tras analizarlos, se concluye que el peso de la experiencia vital o espacio vivido es superior al del espacio aprendido como resultado de la experiencia académica.

Views of the islands: The geographical perception of the Balearic Islands among graduate students in primary education

“…This essay deepens a thematic area for which some relevant articles have already been published and others are currently in press. In short, the geographic literacy of future primary education teachers (Binimelis & Ordinas, 2018) and that of students who complete primary education (Binimelis et al, 2021) have been investigated. Therefore, we can observe a crossroads between a recurring theme, minimum knowledge of geography, and the use of mental maps, a source of information that has been used since the emergence of what is called cognitive geography, as an instrument for this theme's investigation.…”

“…Furthermore, the mental map has recently been used by historians to study the political and social circumstances that have given rise to changing global perceptions during specific historical moments (Holmén, 2018). Some existing results have been obtained in the field of geographic literacy with mental maps in Spain (Morales et al, 2013;Binimelis & Ordinas, 2018). However, to date, such studies have emphasized specific aspects of the content (place names) in the available maps of students earning a primary education degree.…”

“…In this contribution to what is currently called cognitive geography, we thus exploit the mental map as a source of information to analyze the geographical knowledge and the perception that future teachers on the Balearic Islands have about their place of residence and/or origin (some students on the smaller islands reside in Palma, the capital of the community and the headquarters of the university). In addition, in contrast to most research in the field of geographic literacy, we focus on the shape of the mental map (size and perimeter) and map content in particular (names of places, enclaves and landmarks cited) (Binimelis & Ordinas, 2018). On the other hand, in the tradition of the extant studies, we introduce a novelty, the local scale (an archipelago of 4992 km 2 , including five large islands), rather than the global, national or regional scales that are usually applied in the literature, which we employ only as unavoidable references (see Figure 1).…”

“…Future teachers, who will have the responsibility of initiating new generations in geographical science, are a conspicuous group. Regarding the social sciences curriculum of the LOMCE (Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa) (Rodríguez-Doménech, 2015), recent research has tested for a minimum knowledge in geography using the content (territorial organization, enclaves, physical aspects) of mental maps (Binimelis & Ordinas, 2018). This approach has also been extended to other levels of the compulsory education system (Binimelis et al, 2021).…”

The use of mental maps in the assessment of geographic knowledge: Form and content of map sketches drawn by last year Primary Education students in the Balearic Islands (Spain)

“…For more than five years, in the field of Spanish geography research, there have been several initiatives focused on an evidence-based topic that examines the relationship between geography and education, exploring the geographic knowledge of future teachers and school students (Binimelis Sebastián & Ordinas, 2016). This has been used as a basis for several studies whose first results analyzed the areas or enclaves mentioned in mental maps by the participating students (Binimelis Sebastián & Ordinas, 2018, 2022. The relationship between the distance to the school center and the frequency of appearance of the quoted placenames was another of the addressed topics, alongside differences in school students' cognitive patterns regarding the islands (Binimelis Sebastián et al, 2021).…”