Discussion: teaching beginners

CHILDREN’S MAP-READING IN ORIENTEERING; A STUDY OF NATURAL, ‘REAL-WORLD’ MAP-READING FOR WAYFINDING
SIGURJONSSON, T.
HEDMARK UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Sigurjónsson, T.
Hedmark University College, Faculty of health and sports, Elverum
Norway
Introduction: Children’s development of experience of map-reading for way finding is of great interest for the instructor in orienteering (Ottosson, 1987). From my point of view this is interplay between the map-reader, the map and the terrain. The relative importance of each component to the overall performance in the terrain is a debated issue (Sigurjónsson, 2007). The aim of my study was to study this interplay and to characterise children’s development of experiences of map-reading in orienteering.
Methods: The empirical material was generated from audio and video-taped fieldwork in a naturalistic setting with follow-up conversations where specific situations from the fieldwork were watched on a television. The techniques of head-mounted-camera were used. The method both focus on children’s attention towards the map and the attention towards the environment around them. Two fieldworks where carried out. One of them took place in a school area where 16 children - 8 girls and 8 boys aged 5:11 to 9:7 - participated. The other took place in woodland in the neighbourhood of the school and 12 children - 6 girls and 6 boys aged 9:11 to 12:6 - participated.
Results: The empirical material indicates two extremes with regards to describing the interaction in the map-reading ecosystem. At the one extreme there is behaviour which is characterised by a clearly defined readiness for the forthcoming movement. This gives focal awareness and active interaction between the child, the map and the terrain. At the other extreme there is behaviour where the child only to a small degree forms a readiness for his or her movement. This gives poor interaction in the interplay. The attention is pointed towards direction and less towards specific terrain detail. Therefore the children in this case experience hesitancy, and a more active reflection where they try to focus on specific terrain detail on the map and in the terrain is initiated.
Conclusions: An important finding in the study is that the symbolic map is experienced as a difficult aid for the beginner child. Therefore the children have difficulties in building up a good state of readiness for the terrain they are to move around in. The children in the primary school carry out parts of the course with perspective maps. With this aid they are able to form more clearly defined readiness and become more focused on specific terrain details. On the basis of the findings some implications for teaching map-reading and mapunderstanding are discussed and a model for a progressive approach is suggested. My results suggest that cognitive expertise in the real-world represents a key factor in teaching in orienteering and that this accelerates the development of visual attention towards relevant terrain details.

From what I understand, this is quite interesting. Can you tell me

1) more info about the sources Ottosson and Sigurjónsson, if these are printed in English, and if so where they can be found?

2) What a "perspective map" is vs an orienteering map?

3) Where your "model for a progressive approach" is found in more detail?

Ottosson 1987 could be this one...

http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/rh17m777h...

yer I'm not sure sorry. I found the abstract in the book of abstracts from a conference in Oslo last year (European Congress of Sport Sciences). Ottosson has previously published in the Scientific J of Orienteering which is on the International Orienteering Federation page.

If you find out more please post.

I had a conversation with an astronomy professor about college students' varied ability to use a star map. Some simply cannot orient the map to the sky. The professor argues the deficiency lies in the students' map skills, not in their world awareness. My sense from teaching beginning orienteers is that the primary deficiency is in their world awareness. Many adults seem to rely on perspective maps, just as the above abstract says young children do. A perspective map is basically a snapshot of the scene ahead of you. Think about learning a new route through town or a new trail. Many people navigate from scene to scene.

Search and rescue training includes teaching SAR responders to look back along an unfamiliar trail on the way out, in preparation for making the return trip. This is navigation by scene.

Navigating by scene involves looking ahead only, attending to direction rather than surroundings. In this repect it resembles navigating purely on compass bearings; I see youth group teams do this a lot, spending much time with map and compass and ignoring the many rich terrain features that surround them.

I think our Norwegian friend is saying that (s)he watched some kids orienteering, and they varied in their ability to use the map to find the way. Pictorial maps could help them notice features in the terrain and this may help them use proper maps.

Gee whiz. I used to follow the Scientific Journal of Orienteering once. Got tired of all the lightweight studies, such as the incidence of various types of orienteering injuries. Was it 95% to the ankle, or maybe it was 94%.

In many areas Google Maps (and probably other similar services) give the option of 'perspective maps' which are 360 degree photos of the area at intersections when giving directions. They must be useful for some people. However I prefer a detailed map or even the 'satellite view'. My wife prefers the directions to be in word form. To each their own.
By the way I was introduced to perspective maps for children at an IOF Congress in Ireland in the '80's. Someone had produced such a map of the college grounds in Maynouth. It was very interesting and it was clear how it would fit the child's eye view.

I find Google Street view useful not so much for navigating as a perspective map, as for looking to see if, e.g., a certain restaurant is where I think it is, or for knowing what I'm going to expect to see when I get to my destination.

The question is how to help novices who are struggling make the mental leap from a familiar perspective view of the world around them, to the abstraction of a flat map? "Look at the landscape around you. Now imagine you are a bird up in the sky. What does a bird see?"