Didactics of Geography
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The Didactics of Geography course aims to train future teachers in possession of a wide range of skills in the fields of disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching, as well as in those relating to the important social and educational dimension of the subject. The teacher of Geography has to be able to orient himself -in a critical and operational way- between the sources and tools of a constantly evolving discipline. Therefore, the achievement of a disciplinary maturity aware of the learning processes and the modular dosage of information occupies an essential role among the learning objectives, according to a mentality that is open to confrontation, prefers the laboratory dimension and implements innovative strategies.
Expected learning outcomes
The learner is expected to learn an active teaching of Geography which combines lectures and workshops, direct surveys on the ground, use of reliable and updated sources, use of information technologies in disciplinary teaching, forms of participatory teaching. He will have to be able to operationally manage the planning procedures of didactic paths in specific topics of a geographical nature with continuous references to contemporary problems, and with a fruitful openness to the suggestions offered by inter and trans disciplinary paths.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
Module A (24 hours): The main epistemological and methodological issues of Geography and its didactics. Geography and the ministerial teaching classes: objectives, methods, contents, and tools. The importance of regional and thematic geography: concepts, problems, and educational pathways. The trans-scalar approach of geography and its didactic implications. The new frontiers of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches: subjective, emotional, and humanistic geographies.
Module B (24 hours): Geographical skills, methodologies, and teaching practices. Developing a geography curriculum, selecting teaching tools, and the interdisciplinary dimension. Semiotic Geography and geo-cartographic representations: languages, signs, values, symbols, and narratives for a new geography didactics. Applied geography: technologies and digital tools and their use in disciplinary teaching (with a focus on tourism geography). Teaching field geography and the importance of educational tours.
Module B (24 hours): Geographical skills, methodologies, and teaching practices. Developing a geography curriculum, selecting teaching tools, and the interdisciplinary dimension. Semiotic Geography and geo-cartographic representations: languages, signs, values, symbols, and narratives for a new geography didactics. Applied geography: technologies and digital tools and their use in disciplinary teaching (with a focus on tourism geography). Teaching field geography and the importance of educational tours.
Prerequisites for admission
It is assumed that students have acquired, through university exams, a basic knowledge of the main areas of geography (population geography, urban and regional geography, political and economic geography). Those who do not possess some of these prerequisites are encouraged to contact the instructor for additional coursework.
Teaching methods
Lectures to prioritize the logical-conceptual channel; interactive lessons supported by written texts, images, pictures, videos, cartographic and para-cartographic representations, and educational tours. Such approach aims to reinforce various teaching methods using logical-visual and iconographic tools; dialogic lessons given by the lecturer and by experts on specific topics.
Teaching Resources
Materials for attending students:
Module A:
· Frémont A., Vi piace la geografia?, Carocci, Roma, 2007.
Module B: choose one of the following:
· Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M. (a cura di), Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milano, 2022.
· Gilardi T., Molinari P. (a cura di), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milano, 2012.
· Giorda C., Zanolin G. (a cura di), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, 2020 (available at https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281)
The reference texts must be supplemented by students with the lectures given by the lecturer and his colleagues, and with materials made available on the University's digital learning platform "Ariel."
Materials for NON attending students:
Module A:
· De Vecchis G., Pasquinelli d'Allegra D., Pesaresi C., Didattica della Geografia, Utet, Novara, 2020.
· Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M., Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milano, 2022.
Module B: choose one of the following:
· Alaimo A., Aru S., Donadelli G. Nebbia F., Geografie di oggi. Metodi e strategie tra ricerca e didattica, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2018, (available at https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/104/12/451 (do not study the fourth part dedicated to experimental approaches to the evolving school);
· Gilardi T., Molinari P. (a cura di), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milano, 2012;
· Giorda C., Zanolin G. (a cura di), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2020 (available at https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281).
Module A:
· Frémont A., Vi piace la geografia?, Carocci, Roma, 2007.
Module B: choose one of the following:
· Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M. (a cura di), Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milano, 2022.
· Gilardi T., Molinari P. (a cura di), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milano, 2012.
· Giorda C., Zanolin G. (a cura di), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, 2020 (available at https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281)
The reference texts must be supplemented by students with the lectures given by the lecturer and his colleagues, and with materials made available on the University's digital learning platform "Ariel."
Materials for NON attending students:
Module A:
· De Vecchis G., Pasquinelli d'Allegra D., Pesaresi C., Didattica della Geografia, Utet, Novara, 2020.
· Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M., Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milano, 2022.
Module B: choose one of the following:
· Alaimo A., Aru S., Donadelli G. Nebbia F., Geografie di oggi. Metodi e strategie tra ricerca e didattica, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2018, (available at https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/104/12/451 (do not study the fourth part dedicated to experimental approaches to the evolving school);
· Gilardi T., Molinari P. (a cura di), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milano, 2012;
· Giorda C., Zanolin G. (a cura di), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2020 (available at https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview aimed at verifying the knowledge of the main topics of Didactics of Geography that were covered in the lectures or that can be found in the books indicated in the syllabus. Specifically, students will be evaluated on: their ability to interpret and rework geographical phenomena from a didactic perspective; their communicative skills in conveying the main didactic and thematic core areas of the discipline; their critical interpretative abilities regarding the topics addressed during the course.
Professor(s)
Reception:
Office hours are held every Tuesday, on a weekly basis, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. On the 11-6-2024, office hours will take place at 2.30 pm.
Office hours will be held in presence in the office 1044 in Sesto San Giovanni or, for specific reasons, via skype. The skype address during reception hours is: dinogavinelli.