Abstract
Abstract. This paper is predicated on the body of literature that supports a theoretical concept that middle and high school age children possess the cognitive ability to understand thematic maps and achieve some degree of cartographic literacy. In 2006, the US National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies published a landmark book on Learning to Think Spatially. This book documented essential secondary education components and various aspects of teaching spatial thinking. The NRC defines spatial thinking as “a form of thinking based on a constructive amalgam of three elements: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning” (NRC, 2006, ix). This paper is an attempt to document and understand some of the attributes associated with these three elements. Specifically, it aims to find ways that can effectively contribute to the teaching of these elements associated with spatial thinking. The National Atlas of Korea is chosen for lesson plan development because it is well-designed and provides a range of contents and comprehensiveness that are ideal; in addition, it is freely accessible online and downloadable (http://nationalatlas.ngii.go.kr/). Four master geography teachers were invited to examine the Atlas to conceive and develop Advanced Placement Human Geography (APHG) lesson plans. Four lesson plans were written and have continually been implemented in classrooms to over 800 students in the States of Utah, Georgia, Minnesota, and Tennessee since the 2015 Fall semester. Results are presented in this paper.
Highlights
Research attempts to unravel how children understand maps date back decades
Research Council in the U.S published a landmark book titled Learning to Think Spatially: GeographicInformation Systems (GIS) as a support system in the K-12 curriculum which would set a foundation for cartographic, GIS, visualization, and spatial thinking parameters for teaching secondary geographic education in the U.S (NRC; 2006)
The tools of representation adopted for this project are thematic maps from The National Atlas of Korea, which include a broad spectrum of graphics, photographs, tables, charts, and satellite images–a perfect array of media for secondary geographic education
Summary
Research attempts to unravel how children understand maps date back decades. Geographers, cartographers, and psychologists played important roles on this research topic. Research Council in the U.S published a landmark book titled Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a support system in the K-12 curriculum which would set a foundation for cartographic, GIS, visualization, and spatial thinking parameters for teaching secondary geographic education in the U.S (NRC; 2006). The book defined spatial thinking as “Spatial thinking—one form of thinking— is based on a constructive amalgam of three elements: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning.”. The tools of representation adopted for this project are thematic maps from The National Atlas of Korea, which include a broad spectrum of graphics, photographs, tables, charts, and satellite images–a perfect array of media for secondary geographic education. Lessons plans are to be created to include spatial reasoning, critical thinking, and spatial thinking questions that students are required to answer. Secondary students to test out for university credits when they advance to a higher level
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