Geometric Maps as Tools for Different Purposes in Early Childhood

SALSA, Analia, GARIBOLDI, Maria Belen, VIVALDI, Romina and RODRIGUEZ, Jimena (2019) Geometric Maps as Tools for Different Purposes in Early Childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. ISSN 0022-0965

Archive (Geometric Maps as Tools for Different Purposes in Early Childhood - Journal Article) Salsa et al 2019 Geometric Maps Use Skills.docx - AUTHOR'S ACCEPTED Version (default) Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Download (113kB)

Abstract or description

This study examined whether and how young children make spontaneous use of geometric maps for two different purposes: to determine and to represent the locations of objects. A total of 64 2.5-, 3-, 3.5-, and 4-year-old children solved a task with two phases in counterbalanced order: they had to use a map to locate a toy hidden in a referent space (retrieval), and to indicate on the symbol with a sticker the location of the hidden toy (map making). Results show that there is a clear developmental progression with 2.5-year-olds failing both phases, 3- and 3.5-year-olds succeeding only in map making, and 4-year-olds succeeding in both map making and retrieval phases. The differences between making use of maps to represent locations or to locate objects in space allow for a closer comprehension of map-reading as a progressive, sequenced process, and the factors at play as children develop symbolic understanding.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	geometric maps, map use, retrieval, map making
Faculty:	School of Life Sciences and Education > Psychology
Depositing User:	Romina VIVALDI
Date Deposited:	16 May 2019 14:43
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2023 13:55
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://eprints.staffs.ac.uk/id/eprint/5622

Actions (login required)

View Item