This article discusses the educational praxis in Hans Steffen as a professor at the Pedagogical Institute of Santiago between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In a sense this work defines the framework in which Steffen conceived the discipline of geography, particularly in Germany. This article looks to determine the main topics and discussions that allowed this subject matter to be transformed into an institutionalized scientific discipline. Second, it analyzes the materials that Steffen read on different topics and discussions in order to identify his influences. Finally, we study how such topics and discussions were applied to their classes at the Pedagogical Institute, as to the plans and programs for the study of geography that Steffen helped to write for the Chilean educational system between 1893 and 1907.