How School Trips Modify the Pupils’ Representation of Space - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 97

2. Structure of position
The parts are separated but linked up to a certain extent in terms of their general
direction and possibly the distance (Fig. 8.2 ).
3. Flexible structure
The parts are linked up but in a flexible way (Fig. 8.3 ).
4. Rigid structure
The parts are linked in all directions (Fig. 8.4 ).
8.3 Research Results
8.3.1 Presentation of a Sample from Poland
Tables 8.1 and 8.2 present a sample of the Polish survey (three schools and three
different levels) from the aspect of the research hypothesis: the “previous stay in a
discovery class” and “frequency of departures on holidays”.
8.3.1.1 Quantitative Treatment of Data
Next, I present the part of the research that concerns the pupils from the same school
of Cracow. The pupils are of the same age and from the same class. Their space
belonging is nearly the same.
Table 8.3 shows the structure of mental maps made by the pupils from Cracow
(9-10 years old). It can be easily observed that all of them changed. The main
difference is the “non structure”—after a 5-day school trip, there are less spatial
representations with unlinked elements. At the same time, after the “green school”,
there are more “flexible structure” and “rigid structure”.
As Table 8.4 shows, 9-10 years old pupils fromCracowwho go on holidays at least
three times a year had principally spatial representations with “non structure” (34.6%)
or “flexible structure” (34.6%) before the school trip. After the “green school”, there is
more “structure of positions” (30.8%). “Flexible structure” is less than before the
school trip, and at the same time, “rigid structure” goes up from 7.7% to 19.2%.
Before the school trip, the structure of nearly 90% of mental maps was “non
structure” or “structure of positions” for 9-10 year old pupils in the sample from
Cracow who go on holidays less than three times a year. After the school trip the
difference is significant—55.6% of mental maps with “flexible structure”. How-
ever, as Table 8.5 shows, this change does not concern “non structure”, but only
“structure of positions”.
The number of spatial representations of pupils with previous experiences on
“discovery classes” is exactly the same for “structure of positions” and “flexible
structure” before and after the school trip (Table 8.6 ). At the same time, there is less
“non structure” and more “rigid structure” after the “green school”.