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 "setting"

analog

Spatial analogs are places that may be far apart but have locations that are similar, and therefore they may have other conditions and/or connections that also are similar (p. 186, see source for more)

Geography

Gersmehl and Gersmehl (2007)

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

condition

What is there? (p. 100); Characteristic or feature in a given location (p. 268); Site: all local conditions (terrain, climate, soil, vegetation, energy, mineral resources, and so on) that affect what people can do in a place (p. 273)

Geography

Gersmehl (2005)

Teaching geography

setting

The background, context, environment, layout, scene, situation, surroundings etc. of a perceived event, object, or representation. The setting influences the perception of depth, location, motion, size, and surface detail, and also figure/ground discrimination. In other words perception is 'contextual' or 'situated'. Camouflage and animal markings are examples of the difficulty of discerning an embedded figure against a background.

Science Education

Mathewson, J. H. (2005)

The visual core of science: definition and applications to education

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