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Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11019.html
SPATIAL THINKING IN EVERYDAY LIFE, AT WORK, AND IN SCIENCE 77
FIGURE 3.22 Ascribing meaning to the shape of a natural object: reasoning from first principles. SOURCE:
Kusnick, 2002.
3.7) is interesting because neither she nor anyone else knew any details about the tectonic and
volcanic processes that form the seafloor geomorphology; yet her maps in areas of sparse data (the
Southern Oceans, for example) are far better than would have been possible by interpolating from
data alone. In these examples, the physical oceanographer and the field geologist are guided by
knowledge of the processes that shaped the unseen parts of the puzzle, but in Tharp’s case she
seems to have developed a spatial intuition or feel for the nature of the seafloor before the formative
processes were understood.
Describing the Position and Orientation of Objects Encountered in the Real World Relative
to a Conceptual Coordinate System Anchored to Earth
Learning to measure the dip and strike of a sedimentary strata or other planar surface is a rite
of passage for introductory geoscience students (Figure 3.25). This technique requires Euclidean
spatial skills (see Appendix C). Many students seem incapable of grasping this technique at any
kind of deep or intuitive level; at best, they can learn to memorize a sequence of steps and apply
them mechanically.
Until the advent of GPS navigation for research vessels, navigation was a huge issue for
seagoing oceanographers. The challenge is to make the most precise seafloor maps, ground-truthed
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