Understanding Space: Concepts, Approaches, and Educational Objectives
What is Space?
Space is a multidisciplinary concept that acquires a self-realization in every sphere of scientific thought. In mathematics, it is a set of points. According to the social sciences, it is where human activities are developed. Space and time are mental entities, patterns of strategic information used to unscramble the reality in which we live. Here, we face the answers to why we should teach about space. The answer is because it is a backbone for the contents of the social sciences and area knowledge of the natural, social, and cultural life. We live and act from spatial patterns in our minds, which we build because life suggests spatial terms.
Evolution of the Concept of Space in Students
To talk about the evolution of the concept of space in students, the first thing to do is to distinguish between subjective space (depending on the biological stage of the subject and the context they are in) and objective space (defined in terms of location, orientation, etc.). Kant thought that space and time precede all experimental data, implying the existence of mental models that are genetic and common to all individuals. All these approaches were transformed by Piaget.
- Preoperational Stage
- Concrete Operations Stage
- Formal Operations Stage
At the same time, Piaget explains the process of spatial conceptualization:
- Topological properties: Refer to proximity, continuity, and management.
- Projective properties: The ability to imagine what an object will look like from different points of view.
- Euclidean properties: Allows referencing the size, distance, and direction.
According to Hannoun, who developed Piaget’s theory:
- Space lived: The point of targeting space is the child’s body and its motion.
- Perceived space: Understanding the position of the elements in space, not from their point of view but from others.
- Space conceived: Developed from 11 years old, from here starts abstract thinking.
As Moles suggests, there are two spatial systems:
- The spontaneous: The self is the center of the world space, and staff representation is governed by the dictatorship of our own centrality.
- Cartesian representation or space: Covered by an external observer, which is a mapping space, measurable and more objective than individual mental representation.
To conclude, the importance of context is vitally important to learning space. If a student is oriented to an urban environment, they will not know how to be guided by the stars, nor will they know how to move in department stores or the metro area. While a shepherd used to be guided by the stars would be unsafe in an urban context.
Approaches to Learning to Think About Space to Change Society
Descriptive Approach: Conservative Ideology
Learning is equal to accumulating information. In this model, the geographic area is seen as an absolute entity. Value is based on teaching aids in the process of decentering the pupil’s space. It allows the construction of previous schemes to link and order any further information. Practical actions include spatial orientation and calculation of distances. Surfaces compared provide only the spatial perception of each person.
Analytical Approach: Liberal Ideology
This approach favors the technical process as the engine of society. Technical and instrumental knowledge must be quantified to translate it into graphic form. There is a great proportion of mathematical studies (density, surfaces, distances, costs, volume, etc.). The space under study is decontextualized.
Humanistic Approach
This approach is influenced by the geography of perception. It must take into account individual feelings and behaviors in relation to space, including individuals’ personal geography. We will work with the mental maps of geographic space that our students have. From an educational point of view, we must consider geographical experiences based on student interest and capabilities tailored to their approach, which is beyond the general laws established in space. The analysis of space now takes on a cultural and perceptive dimension. The primary method of discovery is through outings and excursions.
Critical Approach
Geographical space is social and historical. Space is no longer an abstract or neutral entity. It is considered historical, which we must interpret and may change. From this came the exports of new spatial experiences: from feminism, environmentalism, and the defense of a caring society. We must geographically educate for change and social transformation.
Changes in the Subject Matter of Geography
The Industrial Revolution and its spread around the world through a process of globalization have led to another organization of space and territory. There are three areas where there has been a modification of the subject matter of geography:
- A new dimension of human-environment relationships.
- A new dimension of geographical space (global village).
- The emergence of new problems of the contemporary world.
The aim is to study the relationships between human beings and their environment, without forgetting that human beings are involved in conquering and changing the environment, breaking the natural balance. It must be assimilated that geographical space is not only natural but also social and individual.
Objectives of Geographical Education
- Understand the action of man/woman on space, which is now global and takes different configurations depending on the circumstances (urban geography, rural geography).
- Think historically about space. History is also a staple of the geographical structure of space.
- The teaching of geography should encourage useful and necessary knowledge for contemporary society to solve its problems, looking for alternatives.
Basics
- Diversity: You can meet the wide variety of natural elements that exist on the planet: terrain, fauna, and flora. It also warns that listed human activities, what men and women do for a living, their different styles, and forms of organization of a particular place.
- Seasonality and change: The geographic area is subject to changes and transformations over time that can modify the elements that constitute it, just as they relate to each other.
- Distribution: Any place is made up of social and natural elements. Knowing how they are organized and sorted (for example, if they are dispersed or concentrated, or how they are connected) allows for a better understanding of the geographical space.
- Location and orientation: It is possible to determine where a person, object, or place is. This geography makes use of various instruments such as coordinates, the plane, and the map, which can be placed anywhere on the surface.
- Relationship and interaction: To identify and analyze how human activities affect the natural elements and how topography, climate, flora, and fauna affect the lives of men and women living in a particular place.
Key Concepts
These concepts are the basis for understanding the relationships between natural and social elements of the geographical space we all live on Earth. Geography focuses on the study because it is a science of synthesis areas related to natural sciences and social sciences. Through this, we are aware of places thanks to the diversity and changes in the landscape. This results in the relocation of factories that are in industrialized countries to cheaper areas (wages, labor forces).
Understanding Geography: Key Terms
- Space: The support (continent) in which multiple interactions occur (content) between human and natural components, and these are altering the landscape.
- Landscape: A picture that shows the space in a given area that can be identified and displayed (mountain, industrial, etc.).
- Geographical environment: The framework within which relationships occur between nature and society, based on man’s adaptation to the environment (urban, rural, etc.).
- Geographic region or area: A unit of land area that has similar characteristics that identify and differentiate it from others (examples: climate region, Mediterranean region of Valencia).
- Territory: The geographical space that is exercised or sought to have political control. It is the essential element in the social, political, and economic population that is located there. It is the space sector in which the state expresses its power.
- Location: Lived space, the space and close everyday. It is the local dimension of space, the first link in the geographic analysis. But it can also become a virtual world.