A cartografia tátil como prática educacional no ensino inclusivo da geografia

Abstract

The search for inclusion in the contemporary world has grown in the most diverse social spheres. This is no different in education, where new ways of promoting education for students with disabilities, called inclusive education, are discussed. In order for this inclusive education to take place, Federal Laws provide for its implementation, as the Federal Constitution of 1988, in its art. 6, in addition to the Basic Federal Law for Education, the LDB - Law of the Guidelines and Bases of Brazilian Education (Law 9.394 / 96). These and many other laws address the necessity and obligation of such inclusive teaching. In contrast, this inclusive education still has few adequate methodologies for effective teaching for these students with disabilities. Within these methodologies, we highlight tactile cartography, an educational practice geared towards the teaching of Cartography and Geography in general, for students with total visual impairment and / or low vision. Tactile cartography is based on the encounter between Cartography, Education and Geography, and it is necessary to understand the three parts to understand tactile cartography. Using tactile maps, which are representations of geographic contents, tactile cartography aims to assist people with visual impairment in the orientation, location and analysis of geographic contents, whether physical or social. In order to propose this inclusion, this work has as main objective to reduce the difficulties of students with visual impairment in the school environment, strengthening their understanding and bringing the student closer to Geography and its contents, through tactile cartography. The research was developed at the Rodrigo Otávio Municipal Elementary School, located in the Bairros dos Estados, in the city of João Pessoa / PB, with students with visual impairment of the 5th grade enrolled regularly in the school. In this way, tactile maps of the contents of the textbook were constructed, following the assumptions of Almeida (2011) to help the students during the academic period. In this context, we sought to understand the effectiveness of this educational practice in regular education and to ponder its importance in the training of students with disabilities in the initial years. As a result, it was noticed that the tactile cartography, when applied in the correct way, helps the students' comprehension, enabling the visualization of that map through the touch, making Geography teaching effective and more complete.