The perspective of place of sixth grade elementary school students

Abstract

Students have contact with the main concepts of geographical science in the sixth year of elementary school. However, these concepts are difficult to understand because they are often simply transmitted to students without connecting them to their reality. There is also a challenge among teachers in developing these concepts due to a fragile theoretical-conceptual training. In addition, there is an issue in the specificities of sixth grade elementary school students, as adapting to a new pedagogical structure and psychoemotional changes experienced by them at this age range. In this sense, this work is the result of a class on the concept of place to a sixth grade class of a public school in Viçosa, MG. The purpose of the activity was to build with the students the concept of place. To this end, a class with active participation was held in which photographs and the song 'Saudade da minha terra' were used as teaching resources. Finally, as an evaluation, the students were asked to prepare a text on their understanding concerning the definition of the concept of place. The results showed that in addition to understanding the concept, the students were able to build and relate it to their experience and place of speech, also defining what would be the non-place, thus supporting interesting reflections for geographic knowledge.