Didactics of Geography
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The Didactics of Geography course aims to train future teachers in possession of a wide range of skills in the fields of disciplinary and interdisciplinary teaching, as well as in those relating to the important social and educational dimension of the subject. The teacher of Geography has to be able to orient himself -in a critical and operational way- between the sources and tools of a constantly evolving discipline. Therefore, the achievement of a disciplinary maturity aware of the learning processes and the modular dosage of information occupies an essential role among the learning objectives, according to a mentality that is open to confrontation, prefers the laboratory dimension and implements innovative strategies.
Expected learning outcomes
The learner is expected to learn an active teaching of Geography which combines lectures and workshops, direct surveys on the ground, use of reliable and updated sources, use of information technologies in disciplinary teaching, forms of participatory teaching. He will have to be able to operationally manage the planning procedures of didactic paths in specific topics of a geographical nature with continuous references to contemporary problems, and with a fruitful openness to the suggestions offered by inter and trans disciplinary paths.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Teaching Unit A (24 hours): the main epistemological and methodological issues of Geography and its teaching. Geography and the ministerial teaching qualification categories: objectives, methods, content, and tools. The importance of regional and thematic geography: concepts, issues, and didactic approaches. The transcalar approach in geography and its didactic implications. New frontiers of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches: subjective, emotional, and humanistic geographies.
Teaching Unit B (24 hours): geographical skills, methodologies, and teaching practices. The development of the geography curriculum, the selection of teaching tools, and the interdisciplinary dimension. Semiotic geography and geo-cartographic representations: languages, signs, values, symbols, and narratives for a renewed geography education. Applied geography: digital technologies and tools and their use in geography teaching (with a focus on tourism geography). Field-based geography teaching and the importance of educational field trips.
Teaching Unit B (24 hours): geographical skills, methodologies, and teaching practices. The development of the geography curriculum, the selection of teaching tools, and the interdisciplinary dimension. Semiotic geography and geo-cartographic representations: languages, signs, values, symbols, and narratives for a renewed geography education. Applied geography: digital technologies and tools and their use in geography teaching (with a focus on tourism geography). Field-based geography teaching and the importance of educational field trips.
Prerequisites for admission
It is assumed that students have acquired, through university exams, a basic knowledge of the main fields of geographical study (population geography, urban and regional geography, political and economic geography). Those who do not possess some of these prerequisites are invited to contact the instructor for a program integration.
Teaching methods
Lectures to prioritize the logical-conceptual learning channel; participatory lessons supported by written texts, images, photographs, videos, cartographic and paracartographic representations, and educational field trips. This approach aims to strengthen different teaching methods through the use of logical-visual and iconographic tools; dialogic lessons conducted by the instructor and by experts in specific topics.
Teaching Resources
Required Materials ONLY for ATTENDING students:
Teaching Unit A:
Frémont A., Vi piace la geografia?, Carocci, Rome, 2007.
Teaching Unit B: one text of your choice from the following:
- Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M. (eds.), Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milan, 2022.
- Gilardi T., Molinari P. (eds.), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milan, 2012.
- Giorda C., Zanolin G. (eds.), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, 2020 (available at: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281).
The selected texts must be integrated by students with the lectures held by the instructor and collaborators, as well as with materials provided on the university's digital learning platform "Ariel."
Basic Reference Materials for NON-ATTENDING students:
Teaching Unit A:
De Vecchis G., Pasquinelli d'Allegra D., Pesaresi C., Didattica della Geografia, Utet, Novara, 2020.
Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M., Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milan, 2022.
Teaching Unit B: one text of your choice from the following:
- Alaimo A., Aru S., Donadelli G., Nebbia F., Geografie di oggi. Metodi e strategie tra ricerca e didattica, FrancoAngeli, Milan, 2018 (available at: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/104/12/451) (Note: Do not study Part IV of the text, which is dedicated to experimental approaches in changing schools.)
- Gilardi T., Molinari P. (eds.), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milan, 2012.
- Giorda C., Zanolin G. (eds.), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, FrancoAngeli, Milan, 2020 (available at: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281).
Teaching Unit A:
Frémont A., Vi piace la geografia?, Carocci, Rome, 2007.
Teaching Unit B: one text of your choice from the following:
- Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M. (eds.), Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milan, 2022.
- Gilardi T., Molinari P. (eds.), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milan, 2012.
- Giorda C., Zanolin G. (eds.), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, 2020 (available at: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281).
The selected texts must be integrated by students with the lectures held by the instructor and collaborators, as well as with materials provided on the university's digital learning platform "Ariel."
Basic Reference Materials for NON-ATTENDING students:
Teaching Unit A:
De Vecchis G., Pasquinelli d'Allegra D., Pesaresi C., Didattica della Geografia, Utet, Novara, 2020.
Gavinelli D., Bolocan Goldstein M., Regioni e regionalizzazione. Lo spazio mondo in divenire, Pearson, Milan, 2022.
Teaching Unit B: one text of your choice from the following:
- Alaimo A., Aru S., Donadelli G., Nebbia F., Geografie di oggi. Metodi e strategie tra ricerca e didattica, FrancoAngeli, Milan, 2018 (available at: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/104/12/451) (Note: Do not study Part IV of the text, which is dedicated to experimental approaches in changing schools.)
- Gilardi T., Molinari P. (eds.), L'uscita didattica come educazione alla geografia, alla storia e al turismo. Spunti di riflessione teorici e pratici, EDUCatt, Milan, 2012.
- Giorda C., Zanolin G. (eds.), Idee geografiche per educare al mondo, FrancoAngeli, Milan, 2020 (available at: https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/view/470/285/2281).
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an oral interview aimed at verifying knowledge of the main topics of Didacics of Geography covered during the lectures or found in the texts listed in the course syllabus. Specifically, students will be assessed on: their ability to interpret and rework geographical phenomena from a didactic perspective; their communication skills in conveying the main didactic and thematic cores of the discipline; and their critical interpretative abilities regarding the topics addressed during the course.
M-GGR/01 - GEOGRAPHY - University credits: 6
Lessons: 48 hours
Professors:
Gavinelli Dino, Rodeschini Marta
Professor(s)
Reception:
Office hours are held every Tuesday, on a weekly basis, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. It is not necessary to book.
Office hours will be held in presence in the office 1044 in Sesto San Giovanni or, for specific reasons, via skype. The skype address during reception hours is: dinogavinelli.