Estratégias metodológicas para o ensino de Geografia no 6º ano do ensino fundamental: abordagens sobre o conceito de lugar em São João do Sóter, Maranhão

Abstract

The teaching of Geography in Brazil has a history marked by transformations that reflect the country's social, political, and educational changes. Traditionally, Geography was taught descriptively, focusing on encyclopedic content such as the names of rivers, capitals, and mountains. This approach, based on memorization and static cartography, has been gradually superseded by a more dynamic and contextualized teaching method. In this way, Geography education assumes a formative role, contributing to the construction of citizenship and the critical reading of reality. The concept of "place" is one of the fundamental pillars of contemporary Geography and occupies a central position in the teaching of this discipline. Far beyond the simple identification of physical spaces, place involves affective, social, economic, and cultural dimensions that constitute the human experience in space. Teaching Geography from the concept of place implies developing a critical and sensitive understanding of the world, in which the student is invited to perceive territorial dynamics not only as distant phenomena but as realities that are close and lived. This work aims to promote the teaching and learning of Geography in Elementary School through alternative methodologies, with an emphasis on the concept of place. To achieve this general objective, the following specific objectives were defined: to discuss concepts related to the teaching of geography, place in basic education, and active methodologies; to develop and apply activities that aid in learning the concept of place in Geography; to understand how the use of active methodologies contributes to teaching the concept of place in elementary school. This research was developed at the Francisca de Abreu Integrated Unit in the city of São João do Sóter, Maranhão, with 24 students from the 6th grade of elementary school. Playful and easily reproducible lessons on the theme of place were conducted. Initially, the students were given a diagnostic questionnaire on the topic, where 79.16% did not achieve the minimum grade of 6.00. After the activities were carried out, 91.66% of the students obtained a grade of 6.00 or higher, demonstrating the effectiveness of alternative methodologies for teaching Geography within the theme of place. The students were also given a questionnaire with subjective questions, where they reported how dynamic, engaging, and effective the class and learning were. These types of teaching methodologies make the dynamics of the classes more fluid and the teaching more effective, making the student the protagonist in their knowledge transformation process