Reflecting on the purpose of mapwork in primary schooling

Abstract

ABSTRACT Two purposes have dominated map teaching in primary education. First is the focus on map skills which enables, secondly, younger children to begin to read maps for place information to appreciate what is shown on a paper or digital map. This article extends these purposes by recognising other aspects of children’s map learning which usually remain implicit or are rarely countenanced. One concerns primary children’s out-of-school mapping in their daily lives, the ways they make sense of the places they engage with through their personal geographies. Rather than an adjunct in map teaching, younger children’s mental mapping can be engaged and enhanced through conscious use and reflection throughout primary schooling. Two further important contexts involve children using local large-scale maps and atlas maps. Children encounter imaginary maps in stories and games providing a role for such maps in fostering children’s map learning. These map learning contexts and maps have emotional connections for children. This is that mapping at local and national scales fosters their senses of local belonging and national identity. Drawing on these contexts, 12 purposes are identified for primary map learning.