Geographical structure and geographical function are dialectically unified in logical connection, which is specifi cally embodied in the diff erentiation law of“distinction-diff erentiation”, the unity law of“connection-restriction”, and the mutual feedback law of“action-feedback”. Based on the logical connection between the two, geography teachers can apply the comparative method to analyze“same structure with different functions”, adopt the simulation method to explore“same function with different structures”, integrate the analogical method to interpret“same structure with identical functions”, and rely on the optimization method to achieve“collaborative evolution”. Meanwhile, teachers should attend to teaching precautions including the cultivation of disciplinary thinking, gradient articulation of learning stages, and implementation of practical activities, so as to help students realize the coordinated development of their geographical thinking literacy and geographical action ability.

The cultivation of geographical thinking is an important mission for implementing subject-based education and a signifi cant carrier for fostering key competencies in geography. The“General Senior High School Geography Curriculum Standards (Revised Edition)”explicitly emphasizes the cultivation of disciplinary thinking, requiring the development of students' comprehensive thinking and regional cognitive abilities, highlighting the fundamental task of moral education and talent cultivation. This paper addresses the current predicament in the cultivation of geographical thinking in high schools, where there is a lack of prediction, strategies, and measurement tools. By leveraging the advantages of generative artifi cial intelligence in teaching assistance, student learning support, and research assistance, it constructs a geographical thinking cultivation tool centered on“GAI dialogue, intelligent agents, and AI classroom analysis systems,”and based on this, designs a three-stage practical path:“pre-class simulation of thinking and precise prediction of learning situations - in-class construction of collaboration and assistance for thinking advancement - post-class eff ect review and optimization of cultivation strategies.”

The law of zonal distribution of soil is an important part of senior high school geography teaching. It reflects the integrity and regional diff erences of the geographical environment and is the key for students to understand the laws of physical geography. Aiming at the problems that students lack perceptual experience and have diffi culty in understanding the continuous gradual change process of soil color along spatial directions in teaching, this paper designs a phased embodied learning teaching aid model based on embodied cognition theory and constructivist learning concept. Taking the physical teaching aid of“fi ve-color soil”as the cognitive starting point, the model guides students to intuitively perceive the color differences of typical soils; then, through the hands-on operation of the“plasticine simulation puzzle method”, it helps students construct a spatial model of the continuous variation of soil color along latitudinal and longitudinal directions. The coordinated application of the two teaching aids can promote students’intuitive understanding and spatial perception of the law of soil zonation. With low cost and simple operation, this scheme provides a referable design idea and practical path for the teaching of abstract concepts in senior high school geography.

The Compulsory Education Geography Curriculum Standards (Routine Revision, 2022 Edition, 2025 Revision) explicitly identifies Geography Praxis as one of the four Key Competences and a crucial vehicle for the curriculum’s educational value. The Shanghai Science & Technology Press Edition geography textbooks provide essential support for cultivating Geography Praxis through systematically designed practical activity sections. Through structural analysis of the textbook’s activity system and its educational functions, the Geography Praxis cultivation activities in Geography, Grade 7, Volume 2 are categorized into three types: Project-Based Learning, Simulation and Inquiry, and Hands-On Production. By deconstructing the alignment between these activities and elements of Geography Praxis (e.g., fi eld investigation skills, tool application skills, outcome transformation skills), targeted teaching strategies are proposed to optimize instructional design for practical activities.

In the context of accelerating educational digitalization, geography teachers’digital application competence has become a key driver for promoting the reform and innovation of geography education and for fostering students’geographical key competences. However, teachers’digital literacy and their ability to integrate digital technologies into geography teaching vary signifi cantly. These challenges are manifested in insuffi cient digital awareness, limited profi ciency in digital technologies, inadequately targeted teacher training systems, and the underutilization of mentorship-based professional development mechanisms (e.g., the“Qinglan Project”) within digital professional learning communities. Such constraints hinder the sustained and progressive development of teachers’ digital application capabilities. To address these issues, this study proposes several strategies: enhancing and reshaping teachers’ digital awareness, constructing an AI-integrated“AITPACK”training framework, and fostering a digital professional learning community characterized by intergenerational mentorship and mutual empowerment.

Clarifying the psychological mechanisms behind teacher education students' application decisions is crucial for enhancing student source compatibility and optimizing talent cultivation outcomes. Through in-depth interviews with 20 geography teacher education students, this study explores their authentic learning experiences and practical needs. The fi ndings reveal that application motivations can be broadly categorized into extrinsic and intrinsic types. Extrinsic motivations exhibit a gradient progression from external regulation to internal regulation, identity regulation, and integration regulation, refl ecting a gradual shift from controlled to autonomous motivation. Intrinsic motivations are primarily driven by disciplinary interest and career aspirations. Additionally, external interference from employment pressure leads to selection confl icts and imbalance in professional identity during the motivation transformation process. Based on these characteristics, targeted recommendations are proposed, including precise policy implementation, enhanced professional awareness at the secondary education level, improved alignment of university training systems, and promotion of autonomous career development for teacher education students.

The widespread application of artificial intelligence is reshaping the discipline of geography, yet the deeper challenge lies in how the computational thinking embodied in AI can be deeply integrated with geospatial thinking. Drawing on the outcomes of the“spatial computational thinking”model and the“Encoding Geography”initiative, this paper constructs a theoretical framework of“dual-thinking integration”of computational thinking and geospatial thinking for geography education in universities. The framework reveals the diff erences and complementarities between the two types of thinking across four dimensions: epistemology, methodology, capability, and innovation. Furthermore, it proposes a three-stage teaching pathway—“geographic problem formulation, computational method implementation, and geospatial meaning reconstruction”—aimed at guiding students towards the synergistic operation of the two kinds of thinking through iterative dialogue between output results and spatial interpretation. A case study based on an economic geography module titled “Industrial Spatial Agglomeration”illustrates that this pathway helps students move from merely“operating tools” to“thinking geographically with tools,”thereby offering a feasible approach to addressing the challenges of cultivating geography talents in the context of rapid technological iteration.

Addressing the lack of argumentative thinking among students and the scarcity of instructional tools for teachers in the“Problem-Based Research”section of high school geography, this paper introduces the Toulmin Model to reconstruct argumentative thinking. By analyzing the content of the textbook section, this paper has deconstructed a three-stage progression of argumentative thinking: descriptive, explanatory, and evaluative/decision-making arguments. Correspondingly, this paper has designed three types of progressive instructional scaff olds—element checklists, logical chains, and multidimensional evaluation rubrics—aimed at explicitly cultivating argumentative thinking and providing an actionable practical pathway for developing students’higher-order thinking skills.

Classroom teaching evaluation is an important way to implement the cultivation of core literacy in geography. This study optimizes the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP), originally developed in the United States, by constructing a simplified RTOP consisting of 3 primary dimensions, 5 secondary dimensions, and 20 observation points. Based on the simplifi ed RTOP, the classroom teaching of the lesson “The Evolution of the Earth” in senior one geography is evaluated. The results show that the simplified RTOP has high overall reliability and validity. A total of 21 Master of Education students and 3 high school geography teachers gave a comprehensive score to this lesson, which is higher than the norm score. The dimension of classroom culture scored the highest, refl ecting the new curriculum concept. Future eff orts may further integrate evaluation tools with the disciplinary characteristics of geography, strengthen the guiding role of evaluation in instruction, build an evaluation community, create a new ecosystem for classroom evaluation, and improve the quality of high school geography teaching.

Addressing the practical dilemma in junior high school geography experimental teaching, which tends to “emphasize operation over thinking,”this paper clarifies the generative logic of scientific thinking in the discipline based on the Geography Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 Edition). It constructs a“four-stage, sixstep”teaching model characterized by the mutual integration of“action”and“thinking,”and applies it to experimental teaching using“Observing the Sundial”as a case study. This model eff ectively drives students through a closed-loop inquiry process from“perceptual observation to rational modeling.”It achieves the synergistic cultivation of geographic practice competence and scientifi c thinking, thereby providing a practical paradigm for the implementation of core competencies.