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 "environment"

condition

the facts about a location...[include] all the conditions that occur at a particular place-its climate, architecture, population density, vegetation, animals, agriculture, industry, politics, religion, and so forth (p. 183, see source for more)

Geography

Gersmehl and Gersmehl (2007)

Spatial thinking by young children. Neurologic evidence for early development and "educability"

environment

[OED]: 2b. The physical surroundings or conditions in which a person or other organism lives, develops, etc., or in which a thing exists; the external conditions in general affecting the life, existence, or properties of an organism or object.

c. With modifying word: a particular set of surroundings or conditions which something or someone exists in or interacts with.

Linguistics

OED Online (2nd Ed.)

Oxford English Dictionary, Online Edition

spatial context

Understanding the situations and neighborhoods of places benefits from a spatial approach. "Much useful insight can often be gained by comparing the attributes of objects with those of other objects in close proximity. The behaviour of a person on a crowded street might be explained in terms of the proximity of other people; the price of a house might be due in part to the existence of expensive homes in the immediate vicinity; and an area might find its homes losing value because of proximity to a polluting industrial plant.

Geography

de Smith, et al. (2008)

Geospatial Analysis: A comprehensive guide to principles, techniques, and software tools

virtual reality

Comprehend representation (desktop or immersive) of real or imagined environments (p. 698)

Geography

Marsh, et al. (2008)

Geospatial Concept Understanding and Recognition in G6-College Students: A Preliminary Argument for Minimal GIS