Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany Spatial Literacy and GIS Learning: Intersections

In this poster we focus our attention on notions of spatial literacy within Geographical Information Science (GIScience) and Digital Geographies more generally. Spatial literacy has emerged as a key learning objective in recent times, but the term itself is rarely defined explicitly; rather it is more often discussed with reference to spatial abilities (Eliot and Smith 1983; Ishikawa and Kastens 2005; Linn and Petersen 1985) and spatial thinking (Ishikawa and Kastens 2005; NRC 2006). When one looks to understand the parameters of the concept of spatial literacy (and its associated terms) there is considerable ambiguity, despite a substantial body of research on the subject. Hence, ‘There is as yet no clear consensus about spatial thinking and, therefore, spatial literacy ’ (NRC 2006, p26). An important factor influencing this is undoubtedly the fact that research is embodied in multiple disciplines, notably psychology, the geosciences and geography. One outcome of this rich but fragmented corpus of knowledge is that researchers have not reached consensus concerning names and descriptions of the various aspects of (spatial) ability (Black 2005, p402). The first role of this poster will be to propose a spatial literacy continuum based on a synthesis of research from psychology, the geosciences and geography, identifying the intersections between the practice of GIScience and the different elements of spatial thinking implicitly required to achieve this practice