Research On Teaching Design For Cultivating Geospatial Thinking Ability Supported By Geographic Information Technology

Spatiality is a significant characteristic that distinguishes geography from other disciplines.Cultivating students’ spatial thinking ability is an important means for students to grasp the essential characteristics and laws of geographical things and phenomena.The "Geography Curriculum Standards for Ordinary High Schools(2017 Edition)" also emphasizes the importance of cultivating students’ spatial thinking ability in geography.With the development of geography education and information technology,geography information technology is not only the learning content of geography classrooms,but also an important tool for teachers to teach.It is an important means and learning content for current and future geography classrooms to "teach" and "learn".Geographic information technology has strong spatial analysis ability,high interactivity and operability.It is an important way for teachers to improve the efficiency of classroom teaching and students to improve the efficiency and interest of geographical learning.Geographic information technology presents abstract and remote geographical knowledge to students in three-dimensional form,which is conducive to students thinking about the space-time evolution of geographical things from the perspective of space,and cultivating their own geographical spatial thinking ability.Therefore,this article responds to the requirements of geography curriculum reform,conforms to the development trend of geography education,explores how to apply geographic information technology to geography classrooms,changes traditional teaching models,deeply explores the correlation between the application of geographic information technology and the cultivation of geographic spatial thinking ability,conducts teaching design based on the concept of big concepts,and innovates teaching methods and strategies,A teaching case that demonstrates the cultivation of students’ geospatial thinking ability supported by practical and feasible geographic information technology.Based on the current research status and theoretical analysis at home and abroad,a questionnaire survey was conducted among students and teachers from Shandong Yishui No.4 Middle School,Wendeng No.3 Middle School,Kaifeng Tianjiabing Experimental Middle School and Jincheng Fengming Middle School to understand the current development status of students’ geospatial thinking ability and the application status of geographic information technology in the class.Through data analysis,it can be concluded that the development of students’ geospatial thinking ability is not ideal,and the mastery of geographic information technology by teachers and students is not optimistic.The frequency of using geographic information technology in the classroom is relatively low,but most teachers believe that geographic information technology has great advantages and functions,and agree that geographic information technology can achieve good results in cultivating students’ geospatial thinking ability.Based on the survey results and the current needs for the development of high school students’ geospatial thinking ability,a preliminary teaching strategy has been constructed:(1)creating teaching scenarios before,during,and after class based on story maps,connecting geographical knowledge with spatial relationships,and cultivating students’ geospatial positioning thinking ability;(2)Combining virtual scenes with 3D visualization to construct spatial concepts,utilizing VR systems and AR geographic exploration to construct various virtual scenes,using Celestia software to present abstract geographic knowledge,and applying the 3D visualization function of geographic information technology reasonably to cultivate students’ ability to think in geographical spatial imagery;(3)The combination of remote sensing images and multi-dimensional thematic map improves the ability of spatial comparison and analysis,loads remote sensing images in different periods or regions with geographic software such as Local Space Viewer and Google Earth to compare and analyze temporal and spatial characteristics,and uses Surfer and Arc GIS software to draw thematic map required for teaching,so as to improve the efficiency of spatial comparison and analysis;(4)Multi element superposition enhances students’ spatial comprehensive thinking ability.By utilizing the data and resources provided by the sky map to overlay various layers and display each thematic layer simultaneously,multi-dimensional comparative analysis is conducted to cultivate students’ geospatial comprehensive thinking ability.Finally,guided by the concept of big concepts,choose the unit content of "rural and urban" for teaching case design.In the design of "rural and urban spatial structure",story maps are used for scenario introduction,and Baidu Maps,panoramic images,and Local Space Viewer are used for classroom activity design to compare and analyze the differences between rural and urban areas,cultivating students’ geographical spatial thinking ability;In the "urbanization" design,the sky map is used to show the comparison of remote sensing images of Yishui County in 2006 and 2019,the definition of urbanization is derived through the analysis of changes before and after,the world population distribution is explored and displayed using AR geography,the thematic map is made for spatial analysis of urbanization,and the familiar geographic information technology software of students is also integrated into the teaching case design,To demonstrate the advantages and roles of geographic information technology in cultivating geospatial thinking abilities;In the design of "Regional Culture and Urban Rural Landscape",Google Earth and Story Map are respectively used to design situational teaching for "Regional Culture and Rural Landscape" and "Regional Culture and Urban Landscape",showcasing a complete teaching plan for cultivating geographical spatial thinking ability supported by geographic information technology.