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English children's geo‐political knowledge of Europe
Author(s) -
Rutland Adam
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-835x.1998.tb00763.x
Subject(s) - politics , psychology , social class , developmental psychology , interpretation (philosophy) , class (philosophy) , task (project management) , social knowledge , social psychology , social science , sociology , political science , linguistics , epistemology , philosophy , management , law , economics
Variations in English children's geo‐political knowledge of Europe associated with age, sex, social class, travel experience and parental attitudes were studied. The participants were 172 children aged 6–16 years old, and their knowledge was assessed using four different methods, including two map interpretation tasks, a naming task and verbal questioning. These methods proved a reliable measure of children's geo‐political knowledge of Europe. The results showed that the children's knowledge was related primarily to age and to a lesser extent, independently, to social class background and travel experience. In addition, parental attitudes towards Europe had no direct effect on the children's knowledge. These results suggest that future research is needed into the precise influences that cause age and social class differences in children's geo‐political knowledge of Europe.