Teacher training in Geographical Education with Artificial Intelligence Applications

Abstract

Teacher training to address global challenges, such as climate change, is fundamental to geographical education. This chapter explores how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into teacher training in order to strengthen education for sustainability through transformative actions in their immediate environment and to foster critical thinking. AI applications offer possibilities for managing and representing geographical data, as well as for visualizing and interpreting phenomena at local and global scales. Properly implemented, these tools facilitate the understanding of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainability. However, an ethical use of AI and a critical reflection of its implications are essential. The proposed methodology has a mixed methodological design of experimental cut with pre-test and post-test (quantitative analysis) through surveys with three dimensions: sustainability, IA and critical thinking (n = 149), and focus group (qualitative analysis) with 45 students (30% of the sample), organized in a group of five people. An improvement in participants’ self-perception was observed about their ability to integrate AI into the teaching of sustainability and critical thinking in geography. The focus groups confirmed its relevance and urged more teacher training. In conclusion, specific training in AI and sustainability is essential to prepare future educators capable of fostering critical thinking and citizen responsibility in the twenty-first century.