The World in Their Minds: A Multi-scale Approach of Children’s Representations of Geographical Space - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 232

Fig. 19.1 Positioning geographical space in Montello's classification of psychological spaces
the geographical space entering what can be called “cosmological space”
( see Fig. 19.1 ).
The assessed spatial representations in this study are thus the physical outcomes
of the children's cognitive maps of geographical space. These mental constructs
however are not purely geographical in se (since they are related to different areas
of psychological space as explained above) but merely geographical concepts
internalized in the whole of a child's psychological space.
19.2.2 Developing Cognitive Models and Spatial Abilities
at Different Scales
Although by the time they enter school most children have already adopted a range
of ideas about their geographical surroundings and the wider world, these notions
tend to be rather confused (Scoffham 1999). Even very young children do create
cognitive maps. As the child matures its cognitive maps and ability to represent
them evolve. Children up to 6 years old generally have egocentric spatial
understandings. Their images become more objective around the age of 7. By the