Patron: President of Austria, Dr. Heinz Fischer

KCTOS: Knowledge, Creativity and
Transformations of Societies

Vienna, 6 to 9 December 2007

<<< Kartosemiotik und geographisch-räumliche Abbildungen / Cartosemiotics and geographical images

 

The analysis of cartographic thinking in mental maps of Lithuanian children and the project of children atlas

Kristina Gurjanovaitė (Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania)

Email: kristina_gurjanovaite@yahoo.com


 

ABSTRACT:

The atlas is the fundamental work in cartography, which is usually showing difficult connections between geosystems. The map, of which the atlas is made, is the tool of communication, which speaks to consumer with it’s own language. However present language of cartography is too difficult for children, because they can’t understand difficult spatial connections, as they can thing very abstractly. One of the decisions how to understand what children think, is to analyze their works. The paper discusses the results of the analysis of submissions sent for the International B. Petchenik Children’s map competition in Lithuania in 2005. Described research is a part of a broader investigation, which aims to evaluate the importance of children mental maps research, to find out and describe their peculiarities and to create a methodology of geographic analysis for such works. It is expected that the results of this research will help to form methodology for development of cartographical perception for children.

 


Patron: President of Austria, Dr. Heinz Fischer

KCTOS: Knowledge, Creativity and
Transformations of Societies

Vienna, 6 to 9 December 2007