International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education
Editors: A/Prof John Lidstone, Queensland University of Technology and Prof Joseph P. Stoltman, Western Michigan University
Book Review Editor: Dr Sarah Witham Bednarz, Texas A & M University
Editorial Assistant: Donna Bennett, Australia
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Volume: 8 Number: 1 Page: 5–25
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Pre-teenage Children's Vernacular Perception and Experience of Maps in Hong Kong
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Tammy Kwan
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This paper reports a questionnaire study conducted with a group of 87 pre-teenage children (age 11-12 years) in Hong Kong to show their vernacular perception and experience of maps before they began formal
mapwork learning in their first year of secondary education. This study reveals major findings that these pre-teenage children see the main purpose of using maps is to find unfamiliar places and to locate
them in most everyday situations. As a result, they like to deal with practical, real maps such as street maps and the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) transport maps where the above mentioned practical map purpose
can be achieved. Most of these pre-teenage children are aware of maps available in their surroundings. However, they may not be observant enough to notice or pay attention to reading them carefully. It
is rather a matter of map awareness that puts these pre-teenage children into the two broad groups of map and non-map-users. It also revealed that even those pre-teenage children who claimed to be non-map-users
demonstrated some intuitive superficial understanding of simple map concepts and elements. Teachers are strongly encouraged to tap into the intuitions and experiences possessed by pre-teenage children in
order to develop their map interest further in geography lessons and to make the understanding of maps a practical life skill for them to master.
© Channel View Publications 1998
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