ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 discusses the structures and processes of spatial knowledge. It first distinguishes between ontogenesis and microgenesis and between stage-like and continuous theories of development. Then the chapter looks at a stage-like framework of spatial microgenesis, which posits the progress of spatial knowledge in discrete stages of landmark, route, and survey knowledge, and compares it with a continuous framework of the microgenesis of spatial knowledge. The chapter then discusses empirical studies of the integration of separate routes into a common reference frame (i.e., the acquisition of survey knowledge or integrated routes) and emphasizes the importance of viewing spatial knowledge acquisition as an individual difference trait, not a universal progression, either stage-like or continuous.
