Kavouras M.1, Sotiriou S.2, Baglatzi A.1, Darra A.1, Kokla M.1, Lazoudis A.2, Pastra K.1, Tomai E.1

1 National Technical University of Athens, GREECE 2 Ellinogermaniki Agogi, GREECE

With the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union

Tasks such as: reading a map, finding your way in a shopping mall, interpreting a diagram, and understanding the spatial distribution of a

phenomenon or the association of places and events

rely on a mental skill called spatial or geospatial thinking.

A newly acknowledged ability with profound and rewarding effects on numerous aspects of everyday life and STEM disciplines, also highly relevant to social sciences and humanities - from giving and following directions, interpreting maps and diagrams, to understanding correlation of social phenomena in space and time.

The GEOTHNK approach aims at enhancing geospatial thinking skills and engaging users in meaningful, inquiry-based learning experiences.

The main goals are: 1. to enhance spatial thinking through an innovative ICT-based approach and an

open, collaborative educational environment. 2. to offer a methodological approach which allows the interdisciplinary

organization and semantic linkage of knowledge.

NOT just another repository of geospatial knowledge; It aims at developing an innovative socially empowered learning platform to engage learners in extended episodes of playful learning, where scientific (geospatial) concepts and ideas are not taught in isolation but in a way that emphasizes their correlation and relevance.

Piloting the project approach and tools with

the user communities.

Development of a systematic evaluation and

validation approach of the proposed activities

in order to identify their impact.

Communication of GEOTHNK products to a

wide range of audiences.

Students, Teachers, teachers trainers, and university

students, Science center educators, and Adult learners (e.g. science centres visitors).

Konstantin

Preslavsky

University

of Shumen

Transversal character; geospatial thinking varies across different groups according to parameters (age, background knowledge, etc.) and therefore cannot be treated uniformly for all target groups.

Transfer of recent geospatial research regarding semantics, ontologies, and knowledge visualization as well as innovative teaching methods to all target groups.

Integration of knowledge; the project will not result in the creation of isolated and independent knowledge, but in the development of integrated blocks of knowledge.

Interdisciplinary approach; semantic linkage of knowledge components from different disciplines.

A pedagogical framework that introduces essential strategies for the development of an innovative learning approach towards effective spatial thinking.

Learning pathways based on the proposed framework that focus on the organisation of a core set of learning components (concepts, representation tools, reasoning processes, and learning activities)

An open, collaborative educational environment, the GEOTHNK Platform that enables: access to various thematic resources and to learning pathways through an

effective search mechanism, creation of new learning pathways through an easy-to-use authoring

environment that will support both the creation and the organization of learning components,

semantic linkage of the learning components and relative information for the enrichment of learning pathways and

formulation of a rich semantic network which will provide a dynamic structure facilitating knowledge visualization and exploration.

Educational scenario: identify areas vulnerable to flooding due to a sea level rise

San Francisco sea level rise at 5 feet and 12 feet http://www.storagefront.com/therentersbent/what-

will-sea-level-rise-look-like-west-coast-edition

Understanding of spatial concepts such as location, elevation, proximity as well as environmental concepts such as global warming, greenhouse effect, etc.

Semantic linking of knowledge components from different disciplines.

Raising awareness on the environmental consequences of human activities.

Target group: advanced ?

Spatial: location, distance, proximity, elevation, seas, oceans, continents, sea level, etc.

Environmental: flooding, global warming, climate change, greenhouse effect, etc.

Learning Activities

Latitude and Longitude Map Match Game http://www.kidsgeo.com/geography-games/latitude-longitude-map-game.php

location

Concept term

location provides information about where an occurrence exists within the totality of an environment

Concept definition:

http://www.teachspatial.org/concept-browser/location http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/2315.html http://dbpedia.org/resource/Location_(geography)

Links

http://vocabulary.curriculum.edu.au/scot/2315.html

Learning Activities

Climate challenge http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climate_challenge/index_1.shtml

Global warming

Concept term

the unusually rapid increase in Earth’s average surface temperature over the past century primarily due to the greenhouse gases released by people burning fossil fuels.

Concept definition:

http://www.c2es.org/science-impacts/basics/faqs/climate-science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/

Links

Maps Digital elevation models Interactive applications Diagrams …

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/24/opinion/sunday/what-could-disappear.html?_r=0

http://ccg.huji.ac.il/dynamicmap/index.html

http://geology.com/sea-level-rise/

Combine a map and a digital elevation model using a free GIS software, evaluating multiple criteria (e.g., the location of settlements and other socioeconomic activities) and making inferences about environmental consequences.

The GEOTHNK approach will: support learners (students, university students and adult

learners) to apply spatial thinking and purposefully address spatial concepts, across different curricular areas and at any educational level by helping them grasp the interdisciplinary character of fundamental spatial concepts.

ground the coherence of the curriculum, reveal interrelations among disciplines and apply fundamental reasoning and thinking to everyday life further developing problem-solving skills of the target groups.

Thank you

Sofoklis Sotiriou, sotiriou@ea.gr