3-135 - Understanding Spatial Processes: Spatial Behavior in Real Time and in Real-World Settings

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Spatial behaviors occur in real time and in real-world settings that vary in scale and type, and involve varied action systems (e.g., reaching for objects or walking through terrains). Yet, researchers often study tasks that involve only a single spatial setting and action system; they often focus on only outcome measures of task success without also studying ongoing processes. Such practices have led to fragmented and sometimes artificial views of spatial development. We suggest that a more unified and ecologically-valid view of spatial development emerges from considering a range of spatial processes that unfold in real time across varied settings, and develop from early childhood through adolescence. We have thus assembled a diverse group of scholars who use innovative approaches from developmental and movement science, community psychology, and geography to understand developmental changes in spatial processes in different-scale environments. Speaker 1 uses motion-tracking technology to examine preschool-children’s spatial planning during tool use. Speaker 2 studies school-age children’s understanding of walkable spaces, investigating real-time use of maps while navigating novel environments. Speaker 3 focuses on spaces at the community level, using GPS technology to examine how immigrant Latino adolescents and their parents use neighborhoods and distal spaces to fulfill physical, social, and economic needs. Speaker 4 argues that both spatial and geographical perspectives are needed to understand children’s worlds, illustrating this argument by discussing the contemporary controversy over free-range parenting. Closing panel-audience discussions will focus on ways that studying real-time processes in real-world settings can advance understanding of spatial development.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chairs

• Lynn S Liben, Penn State

• Jeffrey J. Lockman, Tulane University

Individual Presentations

• Understanding the Development of Manual Tool use: Object Structure and Spatial Processes - Presenting Author: Wendy P. Jung, Tulane University; Non-Presenting Author: Bjoern A. Kahrs, Tulane University; Non-Presenting Author: Jeffrey J. Lockman, Tulane University

• Children’s Strategies for Linking Real-World Maps to Real-World Environments - Presenting Author: Lynn S Liben, Penn State

• Space as Place: Using Multiple Methods to Uncover Place-Based Effects on Latino Families - Presenting Author: Dawn Paula Witherspoon, The Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Mayra Y Bamaca-Colbert, The Pennsylvania State University; Non-Presenting Author: Saskia Boggs, Penn State; Non-Presenting Author: Peter S. Y. Kim, Penn State

• Geographies of Children’s Worlds: The Role of Free Range Parenting - Presenting Author: Roger M. Downs, Penn State