Vol. 17 No. 2 (2026)
Special Issue: SI_TGEO

Generative AI in Geography Education: Content Creation and Conversational AI-Supported Learning to Promote Environmental Awareness

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María Bueno-Picazo
University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Sergio Tirado-Olivares
University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Screenshot of an AI-generated worksheet developed by the authors for the purposes of this study (text generated with ChatGPT and image created with DreamLab)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.m.bue.17.2.034.048
Categories

Published 2026-03-06

Keywords

  • Artificial Intelligence,
  • Geographical Thinking,
  • Environmental awareness,
  • Primary education,
  • Intelligent tutoring systems,
  • Critical digital literacy
    • ...More
    Less

How to Cite

Bueno-Picazo, María, and Sergio Tirado-Olivares. 2026. “Generative AI in Geography Education: Content Creation and Conversational AI-Supported Learning to Promote Environmental Awareness”. European Journal of Geography 17 (2):S.34-S.48. https://doi.org/10.48088/ejg.m.bue.17.2.034.048.

Copyright (c) 2026 María Bueno-Picazo, Sergio Tirado-Olivares

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Received 2025-09-12
Accepted 2026-02-28
Published 2026-03-06

Abstract

Fostering critical awareness of contemporary global challenges—such as those addressed by Sustainable Development Goals—has become a key educational priority. In this context, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI) opens new opportunities to support this aim in schools, while also underscoring the need to promote critical thinking regarding the information encountered. This study explores the integration of generative AI in primary education, comparing conversational AI-supported learning with traditional web searches as a means to foster geographical thinking and environmental awareness concerning a recent real-world environmental phenomenon and its societal impact. A quasi-experimental and quantitative study was conducted in Spain with 45 5th-grade students enrolled in primary education, divided into two groups: the experimental group engaged in conversational AI-supported learning using ChatGPT, while the control group relied on traditional web searches (Google) to analyze the same AI-generated content. The results show significant improvements in geographical knowledge and the application of geographical thinking, particularly among students in the conversational AI-supported learning condition. Nevertheless, students’ overall perceptions of conversational AI-supported learning remained generally neutral. These findings suggest that generative AI, when used with a clear educational purpose, can enrich geography instruction by connecting curricular content to real-world issues, fostering deeper reflection, and highlighting the need for further AI-mediated interventions in the classroom.

Highlights:

  • AI boosts geographical thinking in 5th graders through guided inquiry.
  • Conversational AI-supported learning outperformed Google in geography knowledge tasks.
  • Students reported largely neutral perceptions of conversational AI-supported learning.
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