Resumen: La formación para la ciudadanía es un tema significativo en la educación básica, la reflexión sobre la contribución de la educación geográfica sustenta la hipótesis de este análisis centrado en la argumentación de que a través de la geografía existen caminos posibles para a formación ciudadana. Para comprender como es desarrollada la tarea de educar para la ciudadanía a través de los contenidos de la geografía escolar, es abordado el lugar como concepto y espacio de vida de los estudiantes y el papel del libro didáctico en ese contexto. Las bases teóricas y metodológica critica hermenéutica sustentan la interpretación de los datos producidos en las entrevistas con profesores, y en el análisis de los libros didácticos. Se constata que la educación geográfica es entendida como la posibilidad de estudiar los contenidos de la geografía creando la oportunidad de una formación ciudadana. Pero en las acciones prácticas de la escuela y en el contenido de los libros didácticos el aprendizaje del alumno se restringe a la mera repetición del contenido.

Abstract: The constitution of citizenship is a significant subject in basic education, and the reflection about the contribution of geographycal education sustains the hypothesis of this analysis focused on the argumentation that through geography there are possible paths towards the citizen formation. To understand the development of the process of education towards citizenship through geography in schools, the place is defined as concept of space of living for the students, and the textbooks have central role in it. The theoretical and methodological basis, as well as the hermeneutical critique, sustain the interpretation of data produced from interviews with teachers and the analysis of textbooks. It is verified that geographycal education is understood as the possibility opportunizing the constitution of the citizen through studying geographic matter. However, in the practical actions in schools and the matter of the textbooks, the learning process is reduced to simple repetition of written knowledge.

Este artigo discute a possibilidade e a importância de se aprender geografia nas séries iniciais do ensino fundamental, a partir da leitura do mundo, da vida e do espaço vivido. Para tanto, aborda o papel da geografia nesse nível do ensino e a necessidade de se iniciar, nessa fase, um processo de alfabetização cartográfica. Considera também os conteúdos da geografia presentes nos currículos escolares como uma das maneiras de contribuir na alfabetização da criança. Tendo em vista esse objetivo, discute as exigências teóricas e metodológicas da geografia para referenciar o ensino e a aprendizagem.

This paper discuss the possibility and the importance of learning geography at elementary school, based on the reading of the world and life and of the space in which one lives. It thus explores the role of geography at elementary school and the need to start a cartographic alphabetization. Considering considers the geographic subjects taught in the early school years as one of the ways to contribute to such child alphabetization, it then discusses the theoretical and methodological requirements of geography related to the teaching-learning process.