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Getting Started with Spatial Thinking

Getting Started with Spatial Thinking. Sarah Witham Bednarz Texas Alliance for Geographic Education Texas A&M Universit y. Mapping It Out…. What is spatial thinking? Why is it important: Making the case… U and U The AGSSS Project (briefly)

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Getting Started with Spatial Thinking

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  1. Getting Started with Spatial Thinking Sarah Witham Bednarz Texas Alliance for Geographic Education Texas A&M University

  2. 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

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  5. Thinking Spatially Requires… • Spatial/geographic knowledge • Concepts • Spatial/geographic ways of thinking & acting • Strategies • Spatial/geographic capabilities • Tools and technologies

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. Dr. John Snow

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. ST in Learning Social Sciences • Maps

  12. ST in Learning Social Sciences • Maps • Population Pyramids

  13. ST in Learning Social Sciences • Maps • Population Pyramids • Circle Graphs

  14. ST in Learning Social Sciences Line Graphs Bar Graphs http://www.rssweather.com/climate/Kansas/Wichita/

  15. 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

  16. Workplace http://flightaware.com/

  17. Workplace http://flightaware.com/

  18. Workplace

  19. New Yorker Cartoon

  20. 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

  21. Everyday Life • Reading a newspaper • Finding the toilet in an unfamiliar place • Navigating around a supermarket

  22. Everyday Life • Reading a newspaper • Finding the toilet in an unfamiliar place • Navigating around a supermarket • Packing the trunk of your car

  23. Everyday Life • Reading a newspaper • Finding the toilet in an unfamiliar place • Navigating around a supermarket • Packing the trunk of your car • Assembling furniture

  24. 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

  25. 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

  26. 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

  27. 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.

  28. U and U • U and… • U biquitous ninstructed

  29. 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

  30. Getting Started…

  31. Getting Started…

  32. Working with Students Advancing Geospatial Skills in Science & Social Science (AGSSS) Working with Teachers

  33. “Zoom in to a location at the edge…” Getting Started… Observations Understanding spatial thinking is a challenge. Language is a barrier. Student spatial thinking preferences change with explicit instruction. Spatial thinking can be taught. Questionnaire

  34. Strategies to Support Geographic Thinking • Spatialization • Awareness • Gestures • Language S A G L

  35. 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

  36. 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

  37. 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.

  38. 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

  39. 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.

  40. Region & Hierarchy • REGION Group Category Formal Nodal Classification HIERARCHY position enclosure subdivision subregion area in larger area

  41. Sequence Transition Gradient Slope Gradual/steep Blend Rate of change

  42. Getting Started with Spatial Thinking • A simple formula: (instructional time) + (materials) + (activities) In the context of a supportive environment that gives students multiple opportunities

  43. Click here to full extent (zoom all the way out). 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. IDENTIFY a feature on the ACTIVElayer by clicking on the map. Click to ask a question (Build a Query). Build a query on the ACTIVE layer allows you to compare data to solve a problem. A buffer is a zone showing distance to a feature on the map. Create a buffer around a feature using the SELECT tool. Use this to turn the small state map off/on. Return to the previous view of the map. Find features in layers of the map. A layer is a set of data that can be viewed on the map. Click here to view layers. Click to open To view the map legend click here. Map legend only shows ACTIVE layers. Reload map. Click to measure between points on the map. 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. Clear all selections and measurements on map. * Layers marked with an asterisk cannot be selected as the active layer. ^^ The area surveyed overlaps district boundaries; demographic numbers derived from sample data. ^ The area surveyed overlaps district boundaries. Map Scale Clickon 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. Click here to return to the welcome page. Identify the selected layer and the tool selected. Interactive Mapping Service Help

  44. Geographic Thinking & Learning • Summary: Students SHOULD… • Summary: Students SHOULD NOT…

  45. A Values Proposition What is the value of thinking spatially? What is the harm if students cannot think spatially?

  46. http://agsss.tamu.edu

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