Workshop: Researching Learning Progressions for Maps, Geospatial Technology and Spatial Thinking

This workshop, which will be held during the 2015 AAG Annual Meeting in Chicago, will introduce participants to learning progressions and their potential applications in geography classrooms. Learning progressions describe how children become more sophisticated in their understanding of disciplinary concepts over successive grade bands. Participants in this workshop will study examples of learning progressions and some of the methods applied by researchers to gather evidence of student comprehension of fundamental and complex concepts related to learning with maps, geospatial technology and spatial thinking. Participants will also receive a complimentary research handbook and learn about opportunities to join a research coordination network that was recently formed by the GeoProgressions project funded by the National Science Foundation.