NSDL teaching resources related to “spatial autocorrelation”
The article, “A spatial autocorrelation model of the effects of population density on fertility,” authored by Colin Loftin and Sally K. Ward, disputes the GGM model by introducing spatial autocorrelation as a way to take spatial interaction into consideration in studying the relationship between population density and fertility.
This project includes student collection of plant distribution data using GPS and the correlation of this distribution with abiotic factors such as slope and aspect. Students use a field meeting to collect and record longitude and latitude data; back in class the data are entered into an ArcView project containing a DEM of the field area. Students then speculate on the correlation between plant distribution and these abiotic factors.
