Geography between the natural sciences and the humanities: a new challenge to school education in the third millennium

Abstract

This article results from a reflection of the authors motivated, to a large extent, by the current debate around the reform of the programs of school subjects, and also stimulated by a workshop experience that both coordinated during the I Encontro de Ensino de Geografia do Distrito Federal. In front of rumors that the discipline may have its identity re-established within the other subjects (or even suppressed, eventually), the authors understood how relevant to recover a classic discussion about the nature of geographic science: its "hybrid" character puts that species of relationship and exchange with neighboring fields? From this purpose, the workshop was designed to encourage participants to design and analyze thematic modalities of a "mixed" nature, proposing ways of approaching them in Elementary and Middle School. It was concluded that, once infiltrated in school education, perspectives that do not undermine the dualisct nature of Geography can demonstrate the still functionality of this discipline in a current school formation.