This is the first in a series of six articles about how spatial reasoning can help children "read" maps, graphs, and geographic texts. Since the late 1900s, neuroscientists and psychologists have used new brain-scanning and eye-tracking technologies to do a "lot" of research about visual perception and spatial thinking. One key…

This research study focuses on preservice teachers' (n=66) inspection of pedagogical connections between geography and geometrical reasoning. The aim of this study was to empirically investigate the use of mathematical analysis to enrich the social studies topics of the distortion of country sizes on the world map. The analysis of data collected…

Teaching high-school geomorphological concepts and topographic map reading entails many challenges. This research reports the applicability and effectiveness of Google Earth in teaching topographic map skills and geomorphological concepts, by a single teacher, in a one-computer classroom. Compared to learning via a conventional instructional…

This article provides an overview of learning progressions (LP) and assesses the potential of this line of research to improve geography education. It presents the merits and limitations of three of the most common approaches used to conduct LP research and draws on one approach to propose a first draft of a LP on map reading and interpretation.…

Teaching skills is one of the building blocks of Turkey's Social Studies Instructional Program. Via skills, information can be effectively transformed into high-level behaviors, that information may become a part of one's daily life, and that one may make right decisions concerning major issues in his/her life. Map skills are called "spatial…

Aerial imagery has a great capacity to engage and maintain student interest while providing a contextual setting to strengthen their ability to reason proportionally. Free, on-demand, high-resolution, large-scale aerial photography provides both a bird's eye view of the world and a new perspective on one's own community. This article presents an…

In the activities presented in this article, students mimic real scientists while constructing predictions and scientific explanations about surface currents. The activities are inspired by and couched within true scientific inquiries regarding the ocean and the North American Great Lakes. Students engage in a classroom inquiry and use map-reading…

Children's cognitive skills change substantially from the time they enter school at about the age of five to when they graduate from high school a dozen years later. Some changes can be attributed to the school curriculum, but others are part of children's developmental evolution as they mature and interact with the world. Rather than reviewing…

Describes a learn-by-doing mapmaking project that makes geography not only a memorable subject, but one that elementary students eagerly anticipate each year. (Author/RK)

An activity designed to increase map skills by having students map the location, distance, direction, scale, and time zones of the travelling done by athletic teams is described. (DE)

A sequence of organizational problems is examined and suggestions made from a previous study of the southern peninsula of Michigan. Suggested for all age levels above the elementary school, this project is a feasible design for an oft-neglected aspect of physical geography. (Author)

Three methods of teaching place knowledge were examined with high school geography students. Using a traditional textbook map, an outline map with spelling of place names not memorized, and an outline map with spelling of place names memorized, it was found that none of the treatments were satisfactory in helping students to learn maps. For…

Describes the importance of children developing proper mapping skills to help them understand their life space as they mature. Explains topological, projective, and Euclidean concepts in relation to how children should be taught about space concepts used in mapping. Focuses on integrating topological experiences into pre-school, primary grades…

States that childrens' spatial conceptualization of maps progresses from topological to projective to Euclidean. Provides guidelines for conducting map activities with young children which take account of these and related factors. Recommends block play with verbalization for very young children, followed by mapping of familiar environments. (JDH)