Seminar (Geography)

Code:

FLUP0690

Acronym:

SEMGEO

Instance: 2006/2007 - A

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Geography
Institution Responsible:	Faculty of Arts

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
GEO	2	Official Study Plan - LGEO	5	-	30	-

Objectives

This seminar aims to develop skills that shall allow students to critically reflect on and question their performance later on as teachers, and seek constantly to surpass themselves in their chosen career:
- to coherently intersect theory and practice, Education Sciences, Geography and teaching practice;
- to broaden students’ understanding of geographical and pedagogical-didactic subject matters;
- to encourage inquiring attitudes that should ultimately result in the continuous interpretation and reformulation of the underlying practices and technical-scientific aids, as well as to constantly rethink the education phenomenon in general.

Program

Introduction:
This Seminar (5th year – specialisation in teacher training) is a curricular unit aimed at providing reflection and inquiry on teaching in Geography (in particular) and on pedagogical intervention (in general).
It provides students with the opportunity to develop individual and/or group research-reflection-action projects in which the analytical perspectives of each participant shall be fundamental.

Key Issue:
The Geography teacher’s role and practices in Portugal today (3rd cycle of Primary Education, 7th to 9th grades, and Secondary Education, 10th to 12th grades)
- from the challenges to the answers –

Development:
The key issue mentioned above shall unfold according to two structural dimensions, as follows:

A (1st Semester) – The matters dealt with shall be quite flexible, as they will arise from each student’s experiences. It will be organised in the presentation, discussion and identification of challenges and situations experienced by each trainee/group while teachers of Geography, and by issues develop by the lecturer(s).

B 2nd semester) - This includes a compulsory and an optional part:

The first part will analyse the framework of Geography in Secondary School programmes, and the structure and rationale of each programme (A, B and C), namely:

- Constitution and structure of each programme:
. internal articulation;
. possible thematic guidelines.
. conceptual map of a theme.

In the second part, each trainee student/training group will focus on one of the programmes currently in force (A, 10th or 11th grade), and should opt for one of the following four options:

a) Structure and development of a given subject matter in three school textbooks;
b) Management of programme A within a school;
c) From the possibilities of fieldwork in the development of programme A to an actual case of implementation;
d) Information and Communication Technologies at the service of the development of programme A.

Main Bibliography

Bibliography shall be provided according to the requests and choices made by each trainee student/ training group.

Complementary Bibliography

If necessary, specific bibliography may be indicated..

Teaching methods and learning activities

Supervised research.

Software

Power Point, Excel, Word.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Eligibility for exams

Research assiugnments and class attendance of at least 75%.

Calculation formula of final grade

Average sum between Point A and Point B (including written assignment and oral presentations).

Examinations or Special Assignments

Point A - discussion on topics of students' choice.
Point B - Research assignment (Secondary School programmes).

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable.

Classification improvement

Not applicable.

Observations

Language of instruction: Portuguese