Spatial Concept Perspectives

We have gathered ~300 excerpts from published works about fundamental spatial concept terms. These have been cross-referenced with the concept lexicon appearing on the left. Those terms were drawn from the U.S.National Science Education Standards (NSES 1996) for topic areas B - Physical Science, C - Life Science, D - Earth and Space Science, as well as from the 1994 U.S. Geography Teaching Standards for grades 9-12. Those standards can be browsed here.

spatial concept terms

disciplinary perspectives on "diffusion"

diffusion

The spread of diseases, innovations, rumors, and other things from place to place (p. 36), The spread of something through an area (p. 269)

Geography

Gersmehl (2005)

Teaching geography

diffusion

[OED]: 2. a. The action of spreading abroad; the condition of being widely spread; dispersion through a space or over a surface; wide and general distribution.

Linguistics

OED Online (2nd Ed.)

Oxford English Dictionary, Online Edition