Think Spatial! Development and evaluation of tools for spatial and visual learning with adolescents

The promotion of „Gestaltungskompetenz“ (problem solving skills, shaping skills, conflict skills, networked thinking, etc.) should be in focus of educational institutions to enable adolescents for active participation in future shaping processes. In this context, the interactive application of tools and media is a key competence and requires increasingly the use of digital technology. Especially geographic information systems (GIS) can guide through communication processes, evaluation tasks and perception analysis and are therefore a crucial tool to promote future shaping skills. As digital natives, adolescents grew up with technology, but often limit their use to only a few applications like games and social networks. Within the project Think Spatial! we develop an interactive learning tool together with school students to examine spatial aspects of their everyday life. The adolescents gather existing applications and analyse them regarding their suitability for educational purposes. Knowledge and demands of adolescents are central for a target group focused realisation of the application. Beside the software development, the school students identify relevant research questions and implement them in the application. In this way, the typical workflow of (research) projects like data gathering, analysis, visualisation and communication became visible and understandable. The integration of social networks interfaces allows the involvement of further participants for a broader data basis. An accompanied evaluation, analyses the development process, the suitability as tool to promote shaping skills and the acceptance in school education. The development of education materials for future users and user groups teaches the school students concerning competences for knowledge transfer and ensures that the application can be used beyond the end of the project.