Lost in space: Middle school students‘ map reading strategies

Abstract

Geography and Geometry make a strong contribution to developing students’ spatial thinking. In Geography, maps assist students in acquiring a new way to decode and encode the world. While map reading has always been central to Geography as a school subject, map skill models guiding teachers’ work based on empirical evidence are only a decade old. Based on empirical evidence collected in Germany, Hemmer et al. (2010) set up a map skills model consisting of seven skills clustered in four main skill areas: decoding, reading, interpretation, and evaluation. Many studies used the model to analyze how textbooks and educational media contributed to individual skill areas. This paper aims to explore students’ strategies while reading maps experimentally. Eye-tracking served to explore Hungarian lower secondary school students’ map skills. The stimulus consisted of two German school atlas maps not used in Hungary. Students processed specific tasks and verbally communicated their answers. The paper will focus on types of strategies and main challenges and formulate conclusions for Geography teachers.