Spatial thinking in cartography teaching for schoolchildren

ABSTRACT We present data and analyses on school teaching practises that relate spatial thinking with the learning of maps from a cartographic education perspective. This study intends to support further research in the field of school cartography, given the increasing availability of digital cartographic resources in both the formal and the informal environments frequented by the individual. This increase in information demands a careful and critical reading of the cartographic data, although this requires a clear understanding of cartographic elements on the part of the individual. This reinforces the role of teachers in the classroom, given that they can contribute to the development of critical reasoning though the analysis of current geographic problems during learning activities in school cartography. The results presented here emphasize the importance of these contributions, but also demand substantial and consistent teacher training, in particular on the theories of spatial thinking.