A taxonomy of spatial thinking skills - a review...

Gersmehl and Gersmehl (2006) and Downs and DeSouza (2006) have differing views of what spatial thinking is. The former taking the view, as indicated in the title of the article, that a definition, or list (or taxonomy) of key spatial skills, is tied to the neurological functioning and development of the brain. Whilst the latter proposes a definition based on knowing about, or developing knowledge about, three key concepts “space – for example, the relationship among units of measurement… representation – for example, the relationship among views… [and] reasoning – for example, different ways of thinking about… distances… or making decisions”. Whichever definition, or ‘blueprint’, is adopted, both agree that once this is in place and accepted, spatial thinking will enhance teaching and learning across a range of subject areas, not least, and arguably most importantly, geography.

Gersmehl and Gersmehl’s (2006) “‘taxonomy’ of spatial thinking skills” can also been seen as a response to something which I too have noticed during my ten year classroom teaching career, that young people today have access to a “staggering quantity of geospatial information” (Gersmehl and Gersmehl’s (2006)). It is possible to argue that there is a need for educators (arguably particularly those in geography classrooms) to enable young people to learn what geospatial data is useful and what is not, and with so much data in ‘techno-savvy’ students hands (iPhones, tablets, mobile technologies, etc.) they need guidance and training in how to use it effectively.

This requires teaching which enables the acquisition of knowledge, understanding and skills; an approach which, arguably, is largely pushed to the background in favour of teaching (or training) students to pass exams. As Gersmehl and Gersmehl’s (2006) put it: “what gets tested is what gets taught” – which is understandable when educational success is principally judged upon meeting targets, levels of progress and league tables based upon examination results. Therefore, in an environment where new ideas are only included in the curriculum if they can demonstrably aid students passing a ‘test’, and given there is a “lack of a clearly articulated consensus about the nature of spatial thinking” (Gersmehl and Gersmehl’s (2006)) it is easy to understand why spatial thinking hasn’t yet received the curriculum space it deserves. What’s more “…[because] geography has not yet produced a coherent list of spatial thinking skills or a convincing set of reasons why students should be tested on their mastery of [them]” (Gersmehl and Gersmehl’s (2006)) the reasons for teaching it are even more problematic. We cannot yet adequately or fundamentally answer ‘what is spatial thinking?’ nor ‘why is spatial thinking needed?’

Hence, it was to address these fundamental problems of identifying what spatial thinking is and includes, and to attempt to ensure spatial thinking’s place in the geography curriculum, that Gersmehl and Gersmehl proposed their taxonomy. They could see that teaching spatial thinking was capable of being substantively embedded into, and supportive of, the set of key skills students develop through learning geography and use in analysing maps. Furthermore, with the National Curriculum seemingly moving towards more factual based learning and testing being more ‘memory dependent’ of those learned facts, rather than the themes and issues approach which has prevailed for the last 20 or so years, there is a good, if not golden, opportunity to introduce spatial thinking into geographic education.

Gersmehl and Gersmehl (2006) finally warn us that “[s]patial thinking is an important part of geography, but it is not all of geography!” Like this, teachers need to be careful that an increase in prominence of spatial thinking does not replace other equally important aspects of geography; indeed spatial thinking should, perhaps, be something that it intertwined with and embedded into topics and enquiries already taught in the classroom.

Extracts from a review article published in 2014.
Link to article - http://www.geography.org.uk/journals/Journals.asp?articleID=1204

 

Research into spatial thinking, GIS and geography education

The current government’s curriculum review, 2010 White Paper ‘The Importance of Teaching’ (DfE 2010), and New National Curriculum (2013) proposed several significant changes to the English education curriculum; most crucial of all is the increased prominence it places on the curriculum’s role in increasing the learner’s knowledge (or ‘core knowledge’). This can be seen as an attempt to re-balance the ‘trendification’ of the education system, a process from which geography has not been exempt. Indeed, since as early as the late 1990s the issue/topic being taught has had precedence over the geographical place(s) where it occurs.
 

The core skills/knowledge which are regarded as having been lost, and in need of bring back to the fore in the geography curriculum include: “factual knowledge of places, patterns and distributions, and of earth’s features and phenomena and the processing and communication of geographical data, linking it to spatial and temporal contexts” (after the Geographical Association’s Geography Curriculum Consultation Summary Report December 2011). Thus, it is clear that ‘spatial thinking’ is at the heart of this and so there needs to be a significant, or paradigm, shift in our understanding of what ‘spatial thinking’ entails and how it embodies these, and other, core organising principals of geography and geographical education.

The ‘core knowledge’ agenda will bring ‘basic skills’ – such as spatial literacy (defined by Bednarz and Kemp (2011) citing Goodchild (2006) as the ability, in its most basic form, to “capture and communicate knowledge in the form of a map [and] understand and recognise the world as viewed from above”) back to the fore. What is more, spatial literacy is a powerful area of learning, one which hitherto has existed largely on the margins, but which is a perfect example of a ‘core knowledge’ which can be learnt/delivered in the geography classroom. Indeed, geography is perhaps uniquely placed to capitalise on the emerging ‘core knowledge’ agenda not least due to its long history, or as some might say, romanticised view, of it being preoccupied with knowing places, rivers, mountains, etc.

At the heart of my research there is, therefore, a realisation of the need to develop strategies, materials and resources to prepare the English education system for, and to help geography teachers deliver, spatial literacy using GIS (in its simplest form digital mapping e.g. Google and Bing maps). The need/demand for which can only grow given that at least an elementary level of familiarity with GIS is now included in Ofsted inspection criteria (c. 2009-10). In essence, what needs to happen, is to put the spatial back into school geography and so solve, at least in part, what John Morgan calls ‘the enigma of geography and its difficulty in talking about the world’. By this I mean the explicit (rather than implicit) teaching of the core principals and concepts of location, distribution, and interconnection of places (from the micro to the macro scale) so as to once again enable geography and geographers to talk with confidence about the world.

Link to my page at UCL Geography Department: http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/about-the-department/people/research-students/adrian-manning

 

A personal approach to embedding GIS in secondary school geography curricular

School geography in the United Kingdom (UK) is under pressure to justify its place in the country’s National Curriculum. It has experienced a general decline in the number of students taking it at GCSE, A-Level and University, in the face of growing competition from subjects seen as being more ‘trendy’. Thus, it has had to look within itself and find ways to appeal to, or reposition within, the student ‘marketplace’. One way has been to ‘jump on the bandwagon’ of the digital revolution, and as a result the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is becoming more common in the secondary Geography classroom.

Link to full article here: http://www.j-reading.org/index.php/geography/article/view/17/31

A role for GIS to enhance student's thinking and a personal approach to achieving this...

Geography in UK schools is at a cross-roads, and under pressure to justify its very existence in the National Curriculum as never before. It has also experienced great turbulence in recent years in the number of students taking GCSE, A-Level and beyond, in the face of growing competition from subjects seen as being more ‘trendy’, ‘relevant’ or ‘easier’. Some secondary schools have experienced such a decline in student interest in the subject that it is no longer offered as a GCSE subject.

To sustain the subject as a discrete discipline Geography has, in many cases, had to look within itself and find ways to appeal to, or reposition within, the student ‘marketplace’. One such way has been the ‘technologicalisation’ of both teaching materials for staff and learning media for students. Of the many examples of this new approach/pedagogy, the use of Geographical Information Systems is become ever more common in the secondary Geography classroom. Indeed, it is now an expectation in Ofsted inspections and a widely held expectation within GCSE syllabuses.

But how can teachers harness, and get the most out of the many GIS programmes on the market? Should they simply teach about GIS? Or is there a wider and deeper approach? Can GIS be seen as part of the wider toolkit which a teacher uses to communicate geographical concepts and stimulate students to think geographically?

Once the purpose of GIS is established as part of everyday classroom activity, there follows perhaps a more challenging task of creating resources to ensure its best use and enable it to be embedded within units of work, including GCSE schemes of work. To answer this I have established a freestanding unit for Key Stage 3 and a series of twenty lessons linked to the WJEC-B GCSE syllabus, which teach the students key geographical skills, knowledge and understanding through their direct interaction and manipulation of GIS resources.

I have also directed my attention to addressing the needs of school geography departments without easy access to ICT in engaging students with GIS. Therefore, I have developed a series of eight ‘from the front’ lessons, in which teachers can teach using GIS, while students, rather than needing direct access to a GIS programme, complete their learning using paper-based activities following the lead demonstrated by the teacher.