Robert S. Bednarz

Components of Spatial Thinking: Evidence from a Spatial Thinking Ability Test

Abstract This article introduces the development and validation of the spatial thinking ability test (STAT). The STAT consists of sixteen multiple-choice questions of eight types. The STAT was validated by administering it to a sample of 532 junior high, high school, and university students. Factor analysis using principal components extraction was applied to identify underlying spatial thinking components and to evaluate the construct validity of the STAT. Spatial components identified through factor analysis only partly coincided with spatial concepts used to develop the questions that compose the STAT and with the components of spatial thinking hypothesized by other researchers.

Geography Education: The Glass Is Half Full and It's Getting Fuller

Abstract This article examines the recent progress of geography education as an academic subfield of geography and as an area of activity in K–12 education. Challenges to both endeavors are described. A restructuring of geography educations research program that focuses on spatial thinking and reasoning and merges applied and theoretical research is proposed.

Collaboration and the Successful Use of Information and Communications Technologies in Teaching and Learning Geography in Higher Education.

Collaboration may help secure many of the benefits of, and overcome many of the obstacles to, the transformation of learning and teaching that is currently in prospect, arising partly from the pervasive effects of information and communications technologies. Benefits accrue from interactions and sharing between students and between staff, and in developing teaching resources, creating learning-resources databases, and delivering courses. International collaboration has additional dimensions: larger scale and diversity of activity; wider cross-cultural considerations; and international student programmes. Major collaborative innovations face four groups of issues: challenges to established institutional structures and practices; re-allocations of funding; adherence to agreed technical standards; and legal impediments. These are more complex at the international level at which the International Network for Learning and Teaching Geography in Higher Education will operate.

Environmental Research and Education in US Geography.

This article evaluates geography as an appropriate home for environmental education. First, it argues that many geographers have defined geography as a discipline with a major, if not primary, interest in human–environment interactions. Next, it reviews the recent statements by non-geographer, environmental scholars that, directly or indirectly, argue for strong participation by geographers in environmental science and sustainability studies. After a brief review of the status and the nature of environmental research programs and environmental curricula, the article offers reasons why more environmental education does not take place in geography. The lack of environmental education in the discipline and the conservative nature of the courses taught are attributed to geographys small size and low status and to the controversial nature of environmental issues in the United States. A broad definition of environmental education is used when searching for evidence of its existence or importance, but special attention is focused on courses or programs that incorporate sustainability or other topics that include a human dimension, in contrast with those that are confined to a narrow, natural-science or management conception.

Preservice Geography Education.

Abstract Improving preservice education, especially geography preservice education, is difficult because few geography faculty understand the teacher education process, many education professors who prepare geography teachers are not geographically well-educated, education and geography faculties do not communicate effectively, and efforts by alliances and other organizations have focused on inservice teachers, for the most part. Recommendations to improve preservice education in geography are offered. The authors argue that none of these recommendations should be implemented without considering its relationship with all of the components of the geography education system.

The Quantity and Quality of Geography Education in the United States: The Last 20 Years

The purpose of this article is to give readers, especially those who are not well-informed about the educational system in the United States, a geography education status report. The article begins by reviewing several key developments that highlight the progress made over the last two decades. Then, it attempts to measure the impact of these developments on the quantity of geography taught. Somewhat less sanguine results concerning changes in the quality of geography education are reviewed next. After discussing the challenges presented by the decentralised nature of the US educational system and changes in assessment policies, a few possibilities concerning future goals and opportunities are explored. Virtually all US geography educators would agree that geography education has made great progress over the last 20 years. Speaking of the decade of the 1990s, Bednarz et al. (forthcoming) say it was a time when ‘geography education grew and matured as a school topic, as a player in national and local educational policy circles, and as a subfield of the discipline.’ These authors and Wilbanks (1994),who looks back to the 1980s, list many of the developments that contributed to their optimistic appraisal of geography education’s recent history. Short descriptions of the key events they identified, along with a few I have chosen to add, follow.

Effects of a GIS Course on Self-Assessment of Spatial Habits of Mind (SHOM)

This study identified five subdimensions of spatial habits of mind—pattern recognition, spatial description, visualization, spatial concept use, and spatial tool use—and created an inventory to measure them. In addition, the effects of GIS learning on spatial habits of mind were investigated. Pre- and post-tests were conducted at the beginning and end of a semester-long GIS course. The results suggest that the inventory is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring spatial habits of mind. Analysis of student responses revealed that completion of a GIS course enhanced their spatial habits of mind. It is believed that this research is relevant to a wide range of disciplines whose practitioners are interested in spatial literacy.

A Decade of Progress in Geographic Education

Abstract This issue brings to a close my 10 years as editor of the Journal ofGeography. It has been ajob that, with very few exceptions, I have enjoyed. Many of my colleagues have offered me sympathy for what they perceive must be the huge workload and responsibility associated with editing ajournal. Depending on ones preferences and abilities, however, many aspects of the editors job are rewarding. Forgive me for beginning with a few personal observations about the last 10 years.

The Importance of Spatial Thinking in an Uncertain World

We live in uncertain times. Although we cannot eliminate uncertainty and its effects, it is important to minimize the disruption and loss that result from it. Mitigating the negative effects of uncertainty, especially by applying geospatial technologies, requires spatial thinking skills. We argue that teaching students how to use geospatial technologies will not enable them to deal with uncertainty unless they also learn to think spatially. Spatial thinking can be learned and should be taught. Results from classroom-based research provide guidance in developing effective ways to teach spatial thinking and geospatial technologies.

Spatial Thinking Assists Geographic Thinking: Evidence from a Study Exploring the Effects of Geospatial Technology

Abstract This article provides a description and discussion of an exploratory research study that examined the effects of using geospatial technology (GST) on high school students’ spatial skills and spatial-relations content knowledge. It presents results that support the use of GST to teach spatially dependent content. It also provides indication of an important link between spatial thinking and geographic thinking. The article concludes with a discussion of how these results inform instructional strategies for the teaching of geography.