Learning to Think Spatially

Committee on the Support for the Thinking Spatially: The Incorporation of Geographic Information Science Across the K-12 Curriculum, Committee on Geography, National Research Council

• 1 Front Matter; 2 Executive Summary; 3 1 Introduction; 4 PART I: THE NATURE AND FUNCTIONS OF SPATIAL THINKING --2 The Nature of Spatial Thinking; 5 3 Spatial Thinking in Everyday Life, at Work, and in Science; 6 4 Teaching and Learning About Spatial Thinking; 7 5 Responding to the Need for Spatial Thinking; 8 6 Tools for Thought: The Concept of a Support System; 9 PART II: SUPPORT FOR SPATIAL THINKING--7 High-Tech Support Systems for Spatial Thinking; 10 8 An Assessment of GIS as a System for Supporting Spatial Thinking in the K-12 Context; 11 9 GIS as a Support System for Spatial Thinking; 12 PART III: SUPPORTING SPATIAL THINKING IN THE FUTURE--10 Conclusions and Recommendations; 13 11 The Spatial Thinker; 14 References; 15 Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff; 16 Appendix B Oral Presentations and Written Statements; 17 Appendix C Individual Differences in Spatial Thinking: The Effects of Age, Development, and Sex; 18 Appendix D The Role of Spatial Representations in Learning, Problem Solving, and Transfer; 19 Appendix E Software Descriptions and Resources; 20 Appendix F What Is GIScience?; 21 Appendix G The Introduction of GIS into K-12 Education; 22 Appendix H Seasonal Differences: A Customized Eighth-Grade GIS Module; 23 Appendix I List of Acronyms; 24 Index