External representations powerfully support and augment complex human behavior. When navigating, people often consult external representations to help them find the way to go, but do maps or verbal instructions improve spatial knowledge or support effective wayfinding? Here, we examine spatial knowledge with and without external representations in…

The focus in this article is on the usefulness of spatial sequencing as a tactic for interpreting a map and organizing our memory of it. This skill is useful whenever some condition varies in a systematic way with distance. When students are asked whether they see a pattern on a map of a topic like wildfires or terrorist activity, some students…

The global outbreak of COVID-19 brought an unprecedented influx of official and semiofficial geographic information to individuals worldwide, primarily in the form of geospatial and numerical data. Maps specifically played a key role in the conveying of information and guidelines to the public in relation to the pandemic. Yet to fully understand…

This study investigates the way a kindergarten teacher implemented a three-stage project to support children's map understanding. The project, the Map and Play, was designed to help children understand the relationship between reality and its abstract representation. The guided play was adopted as the pedagogical approach because it empowers…

An "analogy" is a statement of relationship. A "spatial analogy" is an analogy based on a spatial relationship that is observed in a location. Spatial analogies can be based on any spatial relationship, including distance, direction, elevation, proximity, enclosure, or position in a pattern, region, or sequence - in short,…

This is the fourth in a series of six articles about how research by psychologists, neuroscientists, robot engineers, and other scientists could help geography educators design better lessons. This article will focus on teaching about regions as narrowly defined: a region is a group of places that have something in common and are close to each…

Large-scale spatial representations are rarely a perfect replication of the corresponding environment. Factors such as age, experience and environmental association play a significant role in each person's cognitive map. Yet, traditional spatial tasks remove these contextual elements in determining a person's spatial orientation skill, which has…

Spatial thinking skills are crucial for success in any of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) domains, and they are malleable. One approach to support the development of student spatial skills is through the use of innovative technologies, like the augmented reality (AR) sandbox, that can also effectively teach geoscience…

Ninety-seven children aged 4-11 (49 males, 48 females, mostly White) were given the opportunity to improve their problem-solving performance by devising and implementing a novel cognitive offloading strategy. Across two phases, they searched for hidden rewards using maps that were either aligned or misaligned with the search space. In the second…

Undergraduate students may possess underdeveloped knowledge about water systems, particularly groundwater. The use of models and modeling have been employed in undergraduate classrooms to support students' learning about water. However, effective modeling requires spatial thinking skills, which undergraduate students may also need to develop.…

Empirical evidence is insufficient on the specific roles GIS learning plays in developing students' understanding various spatial concepts. The present study aims to draw attention to common struggles of learning some spatial concepts in geography and offer directions for future research on GIS learning and the development of student spatial…

This article investigated an outdoor wayfinding performance following absolute and relative verbal route instructions. Participants were divided into two groups. Each group received two types of instructions that started in one frame of reference and shifted to another reference frame. Results showed that participants in both groups had difficulty…

Students learn more effectively through repeated retrieval of study materials relative to repeated exposure to the materials, a phenomenon known as the "testing effect" or "retrieval practice". This pattern has been demonstrated repeatedly with verbal materials, and more recently with visuospatial materials. The extent to which…

When students see mathematics as an integrated field of study, they make connections, gain a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts, and see mathematics as a whole rather than disconnected, unrelated ideas. Measurement concepts are the perfect "seed to plant" to show how different mathematical strands integrate within other…

In Australia, more attention is being paid to inclusion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (the so-called STEM subjects) concepts in early childhood education and care curricula. In addition, the focus on the quality of learning in the years prior to school is a growing priority, evidenced by pre-election promises to extend the…