If
"EVALUATION OF SPACIAL PERCEPTION BY PUPILS (STUDENTS)
OF THE GEOGRAPHY COURSE THROUGH AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHIES"
SONY CORTESE CANEPARO and JONIA MARA URBAN LOENERT
FEDERAL UNIVERSITY - CURITIBA - PARANÁ - BRAZIL
COMMISSION No: VI/7.
i. INTRODUCTION.
Phenomena of human perception are more and more interconnected
with geographical studies considering the advanced knowledge in
the field of human cognition, which are being developed in
several segments of the psychological and geographical sciences.
Geography is a bridge-science between the environment and man
himself. The perception of the environment and of the phenomena
related to it, depend on the particular universe each individual
forms in his subconcience and on his culture.
The main objective of this work is to verify the perception of
the elements of the landscape, by pupils newly-admitted to the
Geography course of the Federal University of Parana, Brazil,as
well as to adequate the syllabuses (programmes) of some of the
subjects, using aerial photographies.
2. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW.
According to TUAN, 1980, nowadays the researches in the field
of Geography, concerning perception, were performed aiming at
different goals and the resulting works are highly dissimilar
and may be grouped under five kinds:
a)the way human beings, in general, discern and frame their
own world;
b)environmental perception and attitude, as a dimension of
culture or of interaction between culture and environ
ment;
c)attempts to infer environmental attitudes and values,with
the aid of researches, questionnaires and psychological
tests;
d)changes in the environmental evaluation, as partofa stu
dy of the history of culture;
e)the meaning and history of environments, such as suburbs,
country, etc.
Still according to TUAN, the perception, attitude, value and vi
sion(sight) of the world are among the key-words in the works
produced in this area of knowledge. Perception is as much the
answer of the senses to the external impulses, as wellas the de
liberate activity in which certain phenomena are clearly regis
tered, while others recede or are blocked. A great deal of what
we discern has a value for ourselves, for biological survival or
to render us favourable pleasures.
The human being has in the sight one of his most valuable sen
ses, possessing stereoscopical seeing. The human eyes are seated
in a position that limits the visual field. Binocular vision
helps man to see the objects very clearly as tridimensional bo
dies. Even so, time and experience are necessary for the full de
39