GEOGRAPHICAL EDUCATION IN PORTUGAL: PATHS TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH

Abstract

Geography Education has in recent years undergone significant development in Portugal, that it is also observed by the crescent number of doctoral theses defended on the matter. The objective of this article is to present a content analysis of these theses underlining key topics developed and identifying issues that need to be developed in the next years, especially Artificial Intelligence. To the international community in Geography Education, this analysis also gives deep knowledge about this reality in Portugal and motivates similar studies in other countries that can contribute to the development of Geography Education knowledge around the world. Geography Education is a research field that connects “Geography” and “Education”. As Geçit (2010) shows, the process of Geography Education development as a specific research area occurred in several countries. Portugal has seen the development of this research field since 2000. We built a database of doctoral theses in Geography Education in Portugal. In this content analysis, we identified the following key topics: Geography Teacher Education; Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education in Geography; Citizenship Education in Geography; Technologies in Geography Teaching; Pedagogy and Curriculum in Geography, and Theory of Geography and Geography Education. The next graph shows the specific themes that these theses developed.

The analysis of these theses shows that there are still some topics not worked on in doctoral theses in Geography Education in Portugal, such as Artificial Intelligence, Hazards Education, Misconceptions in Geography Education, Powerful Knowledge in Geography Education, and others. For the near future, Artificial Intelligence is the challenge topic to be developed. A reflection on this matter must be done.

With this research, we want to stimulate the Commission on Geographical Education of UGI to continue to construct a database of master’s and doctoral theses on Geography Education around the world, which is still ongoing. We truly believe this database can help researchers in several countries, new doctoral candidates, and the development and recognition of Geography Education.