Subject-Specific Cognitive Activation: Theoretical and Conceptual Clarifications for Geography Education

Cognitive activation is regarded as a core dimension of effective teaching in German-speaking educational research. While the construct is increasingly taken up internationally and across subjects, its potential for geography education has received little attention, despite its subject-specific implications. This paper argues for engaging more closely with this discourse and developing a geography-specific perspective. We reinterpret cognitive activation through the lens of geographical thinking, understood as the integration of a procedural dimension with key geographic concepts, such as system, scale, sustainability, spatial patterns, place/space, and power. Using the example of the rainforest, we illustrate how tasks can gain disciplinary depth.