Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

Europe in geographical education – An internationalcomparison of factors influencing the perceptions of primaryschool pupilsDaniela SchmeinckDepartment for social and scientific studies in primary education, University ofEducation Karlsruhe, Bismarckstr. 10, D-76133 Karlsruhee-mail: Daniela.Schmeinck@ph-karlsruhe.deAbstractThe way pupils see the world is nowadays not only a matter of learning at school. The wayof life of their parents, holiday trips all over the world, the so called “new” (and old) mediaand many other aspects also play a very important role in their development of spatial representation.Until now only few empiric studies have been done about the development of thesecognitive spatial representations. The study presented in this contribution is looking on theperception of today’s ten years old primary school pupils have of the world, the cognitive mapthey have inside their mind and which factors of influence are responsible for the developmentof the children’s perception. The results of this study should enable to create a learningenvironment which allows to support the development of the children’s spatial representation.This contribution will present first results of the national and international study.Key words: Geography, HERODOT, teaching, Primary school, maps, Europe, mind maps,perceptionsAlthough much research has focused attention on children’s perceptions of the worldduring the recent years we know relatively little about children’s perceptions and thereasons for their development. One reason for this lack of information is certainly thePiagetian theory of child development and in order to that the assumption of youngchildren finding it hard to comprehend abstract concepts. Nevertheless consolidatedfindings about the perceptions of children and their genesis seem to be indispensablefor the development of reasonable teaching strategies and aids.The research presented here provides different aspects of children’s conceptions ofthe world and the therefore responsible factors of influence. Evidence was gatheredby a free drawn mapping exercise (mind mapping) with no reference to maps orglobes and a questionnaire survey from children, parents and teachers. The followingquestions took centre stage:• How does the world look like in the perceptions of children?• Which influence does the travel activity have on these perceptions?• How far does a medium affect the perceptions of children?• What kind of influence do current and especially political events (wars…) haveon the conceptions of the children?206