Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

• Which countries are for example shown in mind maps by the children and whyare they shown (special form, situation...)?• To what extent are the perceptions affected by the migration biography of thechildren?About 350 primary school children from Germany aged ten years old and another500 children from around the world (Figure 1) were involved.The background for this study is the belief that, by knowing more about children’sperceptions we can devise more effective teaching strategies to enable children tohave a more accurate and durable frame of reference for developing their store ofspatial knowledge.Figure 1. Countries included in the international comparative studyWithin the analysis of the data the maps of the children were first divided indifferent categories according to specifically developed criteria (Figure 2).Figure 2. Example of categories for the mind maps207