Getting Started with Spatial Thinking
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Transcript of Getting Started with Spatial Thinking
Getting Started with Spatial
ThinkingSarah Witham Bednarz
Texas Alliance for Geographic EducationTexas A&M University
Mapping It Out…
• What is spatial thinking?
• Why is it important: Making the case…– U and U
• The AGSSS Project (briefly)
• Concrete strategies YOU can use to build students’ geographic (and spatial) awareness and capabilities
Geographic/Spatial Thinking
• Knowledge, skills, and habits of mind
• To use– Concepts of space– Tools of
representation– Processes of
reasoning
To structure problems, find answers, and express solutions to these problems.
Thinking Spatially• What do we mean by “Space”
– Key concepts: Distance, direction, point, region etc.
• What are examples of “Representation”– Maps, diagrams, graphs, charts, concept maps
• What is “Reasoning”– Ways of thinking: cognitive strategies,
problem solving methods, decision making skills
Thinking Spatially Requires…
• Spatial/geographic knowledge– Concepts
• Spatial/geographic ways of thinking & acting– Strategies
• Spatial/geographic capabilities– Tools and technologies
Why is Geo-Spatial Thinking Important?
• Spatial thinking is important in science & social sciences
• Spatial thinking is important in the workplace
• Spatial thinking is important in daily life• Success in geo-spatial thinking is
aligned with success in school
We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid
(DNA). This structure has novel features which are of considerable
biological interest.Watson and Crick, 1953
• Doherty Senior Research Scientist Lex van Geen, center, analyzing well water in Arahaizar Upazila with the prototype of a new field-kit for arsenic -- part of a 5-year epidemiological and earth science study of the arsenic crisis in Bangladesh funded by the Superfund Basic Research Program.
Doherty Senior Research Scientist Lex van Geen, center, analyzing well water in
Arahaizar Upazila with the prototype of a new field-kit for arsenic -- part of a 5-year epidemiological and earth science study of the arsenic crisis in Bangladesh funded by the Superfund Basic Research Program.
Why is Geo-Spatial Thinking Important?
• Spatial thinking is important in science & social sciences
• Spatial thinking is important in the workplace
• Spatial thinking is important in daily life
• Success in spatial thinking is aligned with success in school
ST in Learning Social Sciences
Line Graphs Bar Graphs
http://www.rssweather.com/climate/Kansas/Wichita/
Why is Geo-Spatial Thinking Important?
• Spatial thinking is important in science& social sciences
• Spatial thinking is important in the workplace
• Spatial thinking is important in daily life
• Success in spatial thinking is aligned with success in school
Why is Geo-Spatial Thinking Important?
• Spatial thinking is important in science & social sciences
• Spatial thinking is important in the workplace
• Spatial thinking is important in daily life
• Success in spatial thinking aligned with success in school
Everyday Life
• Reading a newspaper
• Finding the toilet in an unfamiliar place
• Navigating around a supermarket
Everyday Life
• Reading a newspaper
• Finding the toilet in an unfamiliar place
• Navigating around a supermarket
• Packing the trunk of your car
Everyday Life
• Reading a newspaper
• Finding the toilet in an unfamiliar place
• Navigating around a supermarket
• Packing the trunk of your car
• Assembling furniture
Everyday Life
• Reading a newspaper• Finding the toilet in
an unfamiliar place• Navigating around a
supermarket• Packing the trunk of
your car• Assembling furniture• Installing a baby seat
Why is Geo-Spatial Thinking Important?
• Spatial thinking is important in science & social sciences
• Spatial thinking important in the workplace
• Spatial thinking is important in daily life
• Success in spatial thinking aligned with success in school
Fundamental Learning Skills
• Spatial thinking helps us to– Remember | navigate– Understand | measure– Reason | create meaningful maps and interpret them– Communicate | non spatial reasoning tasks
• Spatial thinking plays a major role in learning, remembering, and problem solving.
• Facilitate encoding of information• Recall of information• Strategies to solve problems• Transfer of problem solving skills to new domains
Description v. Depiction
• The cat’s room is on the left side of the rabbit’s room.
• The pig’s rooms is on the left side of the cat’s room.
• The dog’s room is in front of the pig’s room.• The bear’s room is on the right side of the dog’s
room.• The frog’s room is on the right side of the bear’s
room.PIG CAT RABBIT
DOG BEAR FROG
Getting Started …Standards Revision
• Standard 1, 1994– How to use maps and
other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information
• Standard 1, 2009– How to use maps and
other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to understand and communicate information
• Standard 3, 2009– Inclusion of a strand focused
on the development of spatial concepts, from K to 12th grade
Overall integration of geospatial technologies within the expectations of what students can do with what they know across the 18 Standards
Advancing Geospatial Skills in Science & Social Science
(AGSSS)
Working with TeachersWorking with Teachers Working with StudentsWorking with Students
Getting Started…
ObservationsObservations“Zoom in to a location at the edge…”“Zoom in to a location at the edge…”
• Understanding spatial thinking is a challenge.
• Language is a barrier.• Student spatial thinking
preferences change with explicit instruction.
• Spatial thinking can be taught.– Questionnaire
Spatialization
• Set ideas into spatial contexts
• See similar things as close, dissimilar things as far
• Maps, maps, maps• Help students develop
the ability to recognize scenes/places from different perspectives
• Enhance the spatial aspects of activities
Awareness• Set ideas into spatial contexts
• See similar things as close, dissimilar things as far
• Draw & use diagrams, graphs, sketches to both think & communicate– Look for patterns, clusters,
outliers & anomolies– And teach with and about
them explicitly• Seek relationships among spatial
patterns– Comparing maps to seek
relationships
Gestures
• Gestures capture spatial information.• Gesture spatializes ideas that are not inherently
spatial– e.g. two points of view; coming into conflict, being
negotiated
• Boys are better at mental rotation tasks than girls.
• Boys use their hands to gesture more than girls to talk about motion.
Concrete Strategy
• Be conscious of gestures
• Expose students to other people’s gestures
• Encourage students to use gestures themselves
• Gesture is an ideal tool to explore what students know about space
Strategies to Support Spatial Thinking
• Make good use of language– spatial language--how to
describe patterns, remote sensing, scenes
– how to describe locations– provide students with a
rich vocabulary to think and write about spatial relations
– ask students to talk about/write about maps, pictures, etc.
Region & Hierarchy• Group• Category• Formal• Nodal•Classification
HIERARCHY• position• enclosure• subdivision• subregion• area in larger area
REGION
Getting Started with Spatial Thinking
• A simple formula:(instructional time) + (materials) +
(activities)
In the context of a supportive environment that gives students multiple opportunities
Click here to full extent (zoom all the way out).
Use this to turn the small state map off/on.
Click a folder to expand or collapse
the associated layers.
ACTIVE LAYER: Check the box next to a layer name to make the layer visible on the map. Once a layer is visible on the map it can be selected as active.
Return to the previous view of the map.
Zoom in either by clicking on the map, or by clicking and dragging a rectangle.
Zoom out by clicking on any point on the map.
Click to measure between points on the map.
Find features in layers of the map.
A buffer is a zone showing distance to a feature on the map. Create a buffer around a feature using the SELECT tool.
Click to ask a question (Build a Query). Build a query on the ACTIVE layer allows you to compare data to solve a problem.
IDENTIFY a feature on the ACTIVE layer by clicking on the map.
Clear all selections and measurements on map.
Click here to return to the welcome page. Interactive Mapping
Service Help
Map Scale
* Layers marked with an asterisk
cannot be selected as the active layer.
^ The area surveyed overlaps district boundaries.
^^ The area surveyed overlaps district boundaries; demographic numbers derived from sample data.
Click on a visible layer's name to make it active.
Making a layer active will make it visible on the map. A layer must be active in order to use any tools on it.
The active layer is highlighted in yellow.
Reload map.
Identify the selected layer and the tool selected.
Clic
k to
ope
n
A layer is a set of data that can be viewed on the map. Click here to view layers.
To view the map legend click here. Map legend only shows ACTIVE layers.
A Values Proposition
• What is the value of thinking spatially?
• What is the harm if students cannot think spatially?