The Project Nós Propomos!/We Propose! Citizenship and Innovation in Geographic Education emerged in Portugal in 2011/12, at IGOT-University of Lisbon. Young people identify the most significant problems of the territory they inhabit, carry out fieldwork and present intervention/action proposals, which they share with the community.
The first major educational challenge lies in the construction of a critical view of young people, in a constructivist perspective of learning: what problems are there?, in order to then select the most relevant ones, to be explored. In the field work, the dialogue with the population about the identified social and environmental problems stands out – with which “those” problems are also placed in the public space. The elaboration of solution proposals for the identified problems constitutes a space of great creativity for reflective and proactive young people. A final stage is the sharing of proposals, at the university and in the community, in particular with political actors. Throughout the Project, the spaces perceived, conceived and lived by the students dialogue (Souto, 2018), an important development of research skills, treatment and communication of information is promoted and, most importantly, "territorial citizenship" is encouraged - responsible participation in decision-making on space-based community problems (Claudino, 2020, p. 19).
In the evaluation of the Project, students emphasize the rediscovery they make of their community and their own citizenship. Several master's and doctoral theses have been developed on the Project (Sobrinho, 2021).
The Nós Propomos! Project is widespread in several countries, constituting an important network of innovation in geographic education (Araya, Souto, Claudino, 2018), predominantly Iberoamerican. Its success shows that there is an alternative methodology, valuing the local scale, which places the youth and the community at the center of geographical education.
Mots clés : project|pupil|community|territorial citizenship|, alternative methodology
A104972SC