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Children's Relief Maps of Model Landscapes
Author(s) -
Wiegand Patrick,
Stiell Bernadette
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/0141192970230205
Subject(s) - elevation (ballistics) , simple (philosophy) , geography , cartography , mathematics education , psychology , epistemology , mathematics , philosophy , geometry
There is widespread recognition that children (and adults) find the conventions of relief mapping difficult to interpret. In this study, 111 primary age children were asked to map four model landscapes of increasing complexity. The results show an age‐related progression from representing hills in elevation only, through simple outline plans and various attempts to differentiate slope, to their early experiments with the use of contours. It is suggested that teachers can support children's understanding of relief mapping by acknowledging children's own prior cartographic thinking and making strategic use of maps employing hill signs other than contours.