Abstracts Geography

Atlas geográfico escolar de São José do Seridó - RN: o meu lugar no mundo

by João Eduardo Azevedo da Costa

Considering the national school context, it is worth noticing that the textbook made available by the Ministry of Education - MEC, through the National Textbook Program - PNLD, is a tool widely used in the classroom by teachers in the public school system day by day. However, the textbook has a more comprehensive and general character, not fully contemplating specific content from different places, for example, the physical-natural and sociocultural themes from the city of São José do Seridó - RN. The work on screen focuses on the Geography teaching in classes of 6th and 7th grades of Elementary School and has as an empirical basis the Municipal School Raul de Medeiros Dantas - EMRMD, placed in the urban area of São José do Seridó - RN. From a previous investigation at the EMRMD and in the libraries of the city, it was possible to verify that there are no didactic materials that contemplate the Geography teaching in classes of the 6th and 7th grades, in microscale. Therefore, it was necessary to ask, what characteristics or information about these themes on a local scale, that the Geography teachers of EMRMD are unaware of and that possibly impact the teaching activity? And what would be the difficulties of working with content related to physical-natural themes on a municipal scale? In order to fill these gaps in the teaching of Geography in specific classes, a Geographical School Atlas of São José do Seridó - RN has been produced, in which it addresses the physical-natural and sociocultural themes from the different landscapes present in the places where the students live. Key concepts of Geography are also present. The “environment study” is a suggestion of a methodological strategy to promote the teaching-learning process on a local scale, based on the themes available in the didactic material. The School Geographic Atlas will serve to complement and deepen the contents displayed in textbooks, and it will be available in print and digital versions. As for the research results, they were fully satisfactory. The product contains a vast production of maps, photographs, graphics and explanatory texts, which highlights São José do Seridó as a specific place in the world. Therefore, we hope that the School Geographic Atlas can contribute and positively impact the teaching and learning process in Geography classes in specific classes. It is also worth noticing that this material has great potential for educational scope to be used as a source of research by students in 8th and 9th grades of Elementary School, High School, Higher Education and Graduate Studies, as well as any and all citizens who express the desire to use this material as a source of research and local knowledge.