Spatial Concepts

2009 • 382 pages • EN

Written by Meredith Marsh

Spatial thinking processes are becoming increasingly important for success in everyday life. As the globe becomes increasingly interconnected and as digital technologies (such as GoogleEarth) become more pervasive, an understanding of how to analyze spatial patterns and processes becomes quite significant. Spatial thinking tasks exist in many facets of everyday life: from successfully navigating between places to understanding how to pack the trunk of a car to understanding a map in the local newspaper, all involve understanding of either real or represented space and successful performance on each task hinges on the spatial thinking ability of individuals. As the "spatial science" and as the innovator of many of the pervasive geospatial technologies (e.g. geographic information systems), geography's increasingly focusing on developing and enhancing this skill in K-College curricula. Unfortunately, spatial thinking ability is often assumed or taken for granted at the K-College level, thus research has consistently found that students are lacking in their spatial thinking abilities. This dissertation investigates, through content analysis, spatial concept presence among the National Geography Standards. Further, it investigates how well undergraduates understand fundamental spatial concepts; finally it begins the process of investigating how instruction in GIS might enhance spatial thinking abilities at the undergraduate level.