There is growing interest in assessing the knowledge acquired by students. More often and in diverse disciplines it is necessary to know the level of the students through different types of testing. In the case of teaching of geography in Spain, there is a decrease and loss of such learning for various reasons. The aim of this research is to analyze the literacy in geography of university students in the Grado en Maestro de Educación Primaria (Degree in Elementary Education Teaching) for its possible multiplier effect, since they will be the ones who teach geography to future generations. In order to achieve this, our data source is based on a sample of 629 mental maps from students from four Spanish universities located in different autonomous communities in Spain. The knowledge of the assessed administrative unit was taken into value, but also its location and representation, showing the importance of the where in geography. Results show the inconsistent knowledge of the future teachers depending on the place of residence and which level of the structure of the country they are asked about. In turn, these results reinforce the usefulness of mental maps as an optimal method to assess geographic knowledge.

En el marco de una reflexión sobre el papel discontinuo y marginal de la Geografía en el sistema educativo español, se examinan los conocimientos mínimos en Geografía de los estudiantes del Grado de Educación Primaria. Para ello, se analizan los mapas mentales de las islas Baleares realizados por los estudiantes de segundo curso del Grado de Educación Primaria de la Universidad de las Islas Baleares, como instrumento de medida con el que se pretende calibrar el nivel de alfabetización en Geografía de los futuros maestros. La prueba se inspira en los contenidos, habilidades y competencias que aparecen en el nuevo currículum de Ciencias Sociales de Educación Primaria según la LOMCE. En general, se constata la poca habilidad de los estudiantes en la elaboración de los mapas así como un escaso dominio de los códigos convencionales del lenguaje cartográfico. Asimismo, tras analizarlos, se concluye que el peso de la experiencia vital o espacio vivido es superior al del espacio aprendido como resultado de la experiencia académica.

Today there is a growing interest in measuring the academic performance and the acquisition of certain skills and content by students at different ages. It has also been extended to the field of geography in recent years. The objective of this paper is to analyse the geo-literacy of a sample of university students of the degree in Primary Education Teacher by its possible multiplier effect, since they will be the ones who teach geography to future generations. In order to achieve the formulated objective, 168 students from the University of Salamanca participated in this research. They were administered a questionnaire made up of socio-demographic questions and a question in which the respondents have to draw a mental map of the political-administrative division of Spain. The results indicate that those surveyed students have some difficulties in locating the provinces of our country, especially those furthest from their place of origin.

The article underscores that the cartographic language used in social science textbooks for primary education in Spain is unsuitable and does not meet the demands of the official syllabus. Consequently, pupil literacy in geography with regard to regional geography is markedly ethnocentric. To demonstrate this, the cartographic content of textbooks is compared to the knowledge pupils have acquired on regional realities towards the end of this education stage. Specifically, certain aspects of mental maps of the Balearic Islands produced by year six primary pupils at twelve Majorcan schools are analysed. Based on this school cartography, a diagnostic exercise is performed on island pupils’ literacy in geography in their last year of basic education. The use of spatial analysis tools enables us to conclude that there is low-level intersectionality between academic knowledge (insufficient) and ethnocentric knowledge (majority) – symbolic proof that the educational philosophy at most Spanish schools provides significantly poor learning.

This study analyzes the knowledge of the Spanish State’s administrative structure (provinces and autonomous communities) of future primary education teachers in Spain. The purpose is to analyze the relationship between the results yielded by a geographic knowledge test and students’ socioeconomic, educational and geographic context. The methodology chosen is based on the analysis of mental maps drawn up by the participants in the study, which included 627 students taking the Undergraduate Degree in Primary Education Teaching at four Spanish universities. A synthetic index supported by a principal component analysis and Cloke’s rurality index has been developed. The results show that students’ origin, their parents’ occupational status, their age and, to a lesser degree, their gender, are variables that contribute to drawing an explanation of the geographic literacy of the participants in the study. Only the indexes of 38% of the total scored above average.

La alfabetización geográfica se presenta como uno de los conocimientos imprescindibles en la formación obligatoria. El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar las habilidades espaciales de estudiantes de educación secundaria a partir de sus conocimientos sobre contenidos geográficos globales y su competencia geoespacial. La metodología se ha basado en el uso de un cuestionario en línea de contenidos de geografía económica, social, demográfica y física, así como la geolocalización de unidades territoriales del mundo en cartografía virtual. La muestra participante está formada por 275 estudiantes de tercero de educación secundaria de las Islas Baleares. Los resultados muestran una escasa alfabetización geográfica y una falta de competencias geoespaciales. Se comprueba la importancia de los medios de comunicación, la distancia espacial y el tamaño de las unidades territoriales para su reconocimiento y su correcta geolocalización. Esta investigación supone un diagnóstico de la enseñanza de la geografía y propone cambios en su didáctica.