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 235

Fig. 19.3 Children completing the tests ( left ),winning class ( right )
Fig. 19.4 Robbe's (9), Lennert's (10), Lin's (11) and Am ´ lie's (11) route
19.3.1 Test 1: The Route from Home to School
Although free recall sketch maps have the methodological shortcoming of relying
heavily on the subject's drawing ability (Siegel et al. 1978 ; Spicer 1984 ; Matthews
1992 ) this often used research method was selected for test 1 for a number of
reasons: the task is easy to explain to the children, can be completed within the
limited time available and assessed in different ways (meeting the aims of the
research).
Children were asked to draw a map of their route from home to school. They
were specifically asked to include features that are helpful to them in remembering
the route and to draw the map like they see it in their head (Fig. 19.4 ).
The scoring table ( see Table 19.1 ) for this test was constructed with the aim of
giving a general indication of the quality of the represented space. To that end five
different features were given a score (0, 1 or 2) expressing the quality of the
representation (based on a study by Thommen et al. 2010 ). The five assessed
features are: paths, crossroads, buildings, the presence of a legend and traffic signs.