One of the ideas of the GeoCapabilities project(s) is to open up an international debate on the purposes and values of geography education. In line with this, the aim of this article is to examine some central perspectives used in GeoCapabilities, such as curriculum thinking, the teacher as 'curriculum maker' and the perspective of powerful knowledge, and explore them in relation to the continental and Nordic traditions of "Didaktik" and subject matter didactics. This is especially done through a reading of the German educationalist Klafki and his theory of categorial "Bildung" and an application of his framework of "Didaktical" analysis. This highlights how the perspectives of powerful knowledge and capabilities in GeoCapabilities mirror the perspectives on material and formal "Bildung" by Klafki. Drawing on his idea of educational potential and exemplary relevance, an example of knowledge-led curriculum thinking in geography is presented using a case based on the time-geographical perspective for a brief "Didaktical" analysis. Such exemplary cases can function as subject didactical models for curriculum thinking. The article concludes with some remarks on the knowledge turn and indicates some future challenges for geography education.