Premium
Controversies on public space management projects in Geography teaching to educate pupils as dynamic citizens
Author(s) -
Lupatini Marco
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/area.12523
Subject(s) - trainer , autonomy , mathematics education , space (punctuation) , construct (python library) , class (philosophy) , pedagogy , teaching method , work (physics) , institution , sociology , psychology , political science , social science , engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , artificial intelligence , law , programming language , operating system
This paper presents the results of a qualitative analysis, based on the principles of action research in education, of three teaching sequences taught during Geography classes in Southern Switzerland. Each sequence included a controversy on a management project of a public space located in the daily life space of the pupils involved. Different studies have analysed the advantages of a teaching method based on the introduction of controversies into teaching sequences. They stress, for example, the role of this method in the following areas: furthering collective and cooperative learning; enabling pupils to construct personal informed opinions and reinforced statements; developing pupils’ autonomy and responsibility. The research underlying this paper aims to measure the impact of this method in terms of strengthening critical thinking competencies, and educating pupils as spatial actors and dynamic citizens. The Geography teaching sequences were planned, under my supervision, by three students of the Teaching Education Institution of Southern Switzerland, where I work as a lower secondary school teacher trainer, as part of their teacher‐training programme. Each student taught the planned teaching sequence in one of their classes. Altogether, three classes were therefore involved in this research study. The analysis was conducted on material produced by the pupils of the three classes during the teaching sequence.