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 "stratum"

folding

Doubling, turning, or laying back of parts of a structure, stratum, layer, or membrane on itself. Folds produce anticlines and synclines in rock formations; plications are repeated sharp folds. Protein 'folding' describes the specific manner in which polypeptide chains form minimum energy configurations such as an alpha helix or beta sheet. Folds occur in systems that pack large amounts of surface into a given volume such brain tissue, grana in chloroplasts, stacks of pigment 'discs' in retinal rod cells, gill tissue in crustaceans, etc.

Science Education

Mathewson, J. H. (2005)

The visual core of science: definition and applications to education

stratum

A bed, coating, layer, sheet, or zone (horizontally extended) with distinct boundaries (q.v.) and more or less uniform properties. The stratosphere is the outer layer of the atmosphere. Stratigraphy is the study of the sequence of accumulated rock types (and ages). Flow that follows flat trajectories is laminar. The skin is made up of distinct layers of cells. By analogy, the organization of information, or of human endeavors, may be 'layered'.

Science Education

Mathewson, J. H. (2005)

The visual core of science: definition and applications to education