Age-appropriate maps enhance learning and application

Maps are a learning aid in classrooms around the world and have been proven to enhance student learning by creating visual and spatial links on a range of subjects besides geography. Teachers can use maps for a visual and spatial reference of concepts, relationships, and systems to complement text and lectures. Maps can depict thematic topics like agriculture or other human activities, or natural systems such as hydrology, over physical space. In addition, maps can have different types of map keys or legends to link meaning to what the map depicts. For example, an activity or physical structure might be represented by a specific color, alphanumeric code, and/or a picture. In the Czech Republic, economic maps used in schools show students complex economic activities like raw material extraction within the region. However, many school maps were used across multiple age groups, were not updated to be accurate over time, and used one type of legend. The researchers investigated how to tailor and improve legend designs for different age groups within secondary schools in the Czech Republic by comparing an existing school map with a newly developed map of raw material extraction in the area.

In the Czech Republic, maps have been used in schools to depict economic activities since the 1950s. However, these maps were largely ineffective because they were based on broad and outdated information and were not frequently updated to reflect the most recent economic conditions. As the Communist regime of the country started to fall in the 1990s, school maps became more interdisciplinary and more widely produced since the government no longer controlled the development or distribution of economic maps. For example, in previous raw material extraction maps, a blue and yellow triangle represented the element gold, whereas at the turn of the 21st century, atlases marked gold with a yellow and black square with the periodic symbol “Au.” This connected science principles to geography and economics by directly incorporating the periodic elements – topics learned in science classes – with the extraction map – the learning tool in geography class for economic activities. Despite this freedom, maps were still designed to apply to all age groups in secondary schools which meant the maps were largely oversimplified.

The researchers selected two age groups from four urban secondary schools in the Czech Republic. The study included 193 students in two groups: a lower secondary group (120 students, ages 11-13 years) and upper secondary group (73 students, ages 15-17 years). These two groups represented the lowest and highest levels of map skills, respectively. The researchers first compared eight existing Czech school maps to eight foreign school maps that were made between 1925 and 2014. Based on what they observed about usability of those maps, they developed a new map legend with 17 total signs that categorized mineral groups by color and sign shape. The new legend also had an alphanumeric sign that contained the first letter of each raw material in the students' native language as opposed to the scientific symbol. The researchers tested the appropriateness of the new legend for each age group.

The students were evaluated in two stages. First, they were given a questionnaire to compare the existing legends with periodic table symbols to the researcher-developed legend with the initials of each element to gauge student opinions on the usability of each. For example, students were asked to “choose the most appropriate sign for iron ore mining.” On the existing legend, iron was “Fe” in red whereas on the researcher-developed legend, iron was “Z” in orange (Z being the first letter of “iron” in their language). Second, the students were asked to identify what was on each map without using the legend to see which symbols were more obvious to students. The results from the two stages were analyzed and then the results from each age group were compared.

Though the color of the legend symbols did not significantly affect student understanding of the map, the alphanumerical notation (either the first letter of the raw material or the periodic symbol) of the legend symbols did significantly affect student understanding of the map. Further, the results showed that the students' preference between legend symbols was significant between the two student groups. The questionnaire results showed the lower age group more easily understood the researcher-developed legend, where raw materials were symbolized with the raw material's first letter in their language. This age group was less successful in identifying and understanding the existing school legend with the periodic table symbol. Conversely, the upper secondary group more easily understood the existing school legend, in which the raw materials were marked with the periodic table symbol. In the activity results, the upper secondary group identified both maps' symbols and meaning at a significantly higher success rate than that of the lower age group. At the time of the study, the lower age group had not yet learned about the periodic table in their school curriculum, which likely contributed to their lower understanding of the periodic symbols for raw materials on the map legend.

There were limitations to this study and the results are not generalizable beyond the Czech Republic. First, the study took place in the Czech Republic, a country with a particularly tumultuous political past that influences the context in which economic maps are depicted, used, and perceived. Second, the researchers used an existing school map that is very common in the country, but it is not the only map present in schools for raw material extraction. Therefore, the results may not represent the full scope of student experience with school economic maps.

The researchers recommended that maps need to be intentionally developed for different age groups. For example, younger age groups should start with a map that is less complex and includes an age-appropriate legend based on what else they have learned or are learning in their curriculum. As students progress in their studies, maps should align with their studies by incorporating more complexity and more advanced legends to relate to other subjects.