Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/a-place-for-spatial-knowledge-in-personal-and-social-understanding/5015546/
Beyond just preparing children to fill our society’s need for physical scientists and engineers, rich experiences with physical and spatial elements of their environment lay the foundation of an understanding of their person and their relationships. Cursory examination of commonplace descriptions of social relationships and our psychological inner life clearly indicate that we rely on our spatial knowledge to construct an understanding of these non-physical, social subjects. It is our integration of spatial and social knowledge that allows us to make sense of our description of relationships as “close” or “distant,” “cold” or “hot.” This language serves as signposts that guide our decisions regarding relationships; they articulate our assumptions, interpretations, and perceived options. It is simple, yet powerfully descriptive language, whose underlying imagery is available even to very young children.This observation is important, because it allows us to understand that young children are developing a sense of self and their relationships, long before they become competent users of spoken languages. Their understanding of physical and spatial reality is strong enough to support fairly sophisticated intuitions in these social domains, even while their verbal constructions deviate from adult conventions.
Participation in speech communities, and negotiations with others through communication, allows them in ...