Cartography at Elementary School Level: Continuing Education of Teachers and Experiences in the Classroom - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 64

From the perspective of education, it is considered that a qualitative analysis of
the map is justified from a cognitive point of view , requiring the teacher to have
flexible teaching guidelines that are easy to manage and of low cost (Oliveira 2008 ).
We agree with the assertions of Oliveira ( 2008 ), when considering that the value
of the map is determined by what the teacher intends to do with it, meaning that it is
up to the teacher, who possesses knowledge of this instrument, to use and apply this
model of reality to situations that arise during their lessons (Oliveira 2008 ).
According to Almeida ( 2003 ):
Piaget, with the support of a team of researchers conducted several studies that enabled him
to create one of the more complete genetic theories on the cognitive development of
humans. Even though today, in the light of other theories, Piaget's proposal suffers certain
restrictions, his studies remain fundamental in terms of their representation of space.
In a study of Geography for a child's learning, Callai ( 2005 ) points out the
importance of cartography for the education of children at Elementary School:
One way to read space is through maps, which are the cartographic representation of a
given space. Scholars of cartography teaching/learning consider that, for an individual to be
able to read space critically, it is necessary for him/her to know how to interpret the actual/
concrete space and as well to be capable of interpreting of his/her representation, the map. It
is, of course, commonly understood that the individual who knows how to make a map will
be in a much better position of being able to read a map. Drawing routes, paths, plans of the
classroom, of their home, of their schoolyard may well be the beginning of the student's
work for ways of representing space. These are tasks that children generally perform in
their early years at school, but it is worth remembering that the interesting thing is that they
base them on concrete and real data/facts and not on things that are imagined. That is to say,
that they are trying to represent that which actually exists.
The author emphasizes here that which was pointed out by Oliveira ( 2008 ): the
need to construct models that are close to the reality of the child, their concrete
spatial domain, representing through sketch maps, plans and models their every-day
living environment.
In this study, with reference to the cited authors, we consider it necessary that
cartographic activities be experienced and incorporated into the everyday practices
of teachers of the early years at Elementary School. They should be prepared for
this when doing their undergraduate courses, and courses undertaken once in the
profession, called continuing education courses. Thus, the disciplines related to
topics such as School Cartography and Teaching Methodology for Cartography, in
undergraduate courses, should be valued more, whether they be Geography or
Pedagogy to ensure that children and youth are adequately instructed in the subject.
5.5 Methodological Guidelines
In order to develop our work, we undertook a literature review, consulting
documents related to the initial and continuing training of Primary School teachers
in the areas of Education and Cartography.