| This example paper is about a different article than the one that you are assigned. The author of the article is Liben. All of the requirements for the assignment are covered in the “Instructions for Summary Paper Assignments.” |
| Notice this is written in paragraphs. Each paragraph should have a topic sentence. |
1. What are the most important points of the article?
The purpose of this article is to review the developmental literature on children’s understanding of maps. Map reading depends on cognitive skills that involve symbolic and spatial reasoning and may be influenced by individual differences and experience. The research on the development of map reading skills also has implications for explanations of adult’s use and understanding of maps.
By 3 children understand that maps refer to places, but they have difficulty understanding the meaning of map symbols. Initially children look for a direct connection between a map symbol and its referent, such as both being the same shape or color. Between the ages of 9 to 10 children who saw an adult placing stickers on a map, either to decorate it or to mark the location of hidden objects, were able to consistently use only relevant information to find the hidden objects. This indicates that they are able to go beyond the direct connection between the symbol and its referent to the more abstract meaning.
Map reading requires spatial reasoning including topological, projective, and Euclidian concepts. Topological concepts are among the first to develop. Problems young children have with maps include Euclidian and projective concepts such as understanding the connection between what the map represents the scale of the map and what it represents, understanding the connection between the angle of viewing the map and what it represents, and using a map of a familiar place such as their classroom when the map is not oriented in the same way as the room. In addition to developmental differences there are also wide variations between individuals who are the same age. Different mapping tasks require different spatial skills and understanding these connections will be important in constructing the story of how mapping skills develop and in designing interventions to promote these skills.
Improving both spatial and map reading skills may improve success in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines and perhaps eliminate gender differences in spatial skills. Experience, both at home and school, matters. Parents’ discussions of spatial concepts with preschool children and an instructional curriculum on map concepts for elementary school both improved the performance of preschool children on spatial tasks.
Technology changes how people interact with maps and spatial information. If children are exposed to the new technologies very early it may invert the process of connecting the representation with the real world to connecting the real world with the representation.
2. How does course material apply to the main points of the article?
Part A
The course material and the article agree about the difficulty young children have understanding that symbols can have more than one meaning. This understanding is often referred to as dual representation and requires multiple cognitive skills. Young children’s errors when reasoning about symbols indicates the limits of their understanding. An example from PUT IN-TEXT CITATION FOR TEXTBOOK on pages 238-230 is research on how children reason about the relationship between a model of a room and an actual room. Children under 3 do not understand that the model of the room also represents the actual room. Instead, they think of the model as a concrete object only. This lack of understanding indicates that they do not understand the model of a room can be used to reason about the actual room.
Liben (2009) also covers this limitation. Young children may understand dual representations, but still believe that the symbols on a map are a direct representation of reality. For example, children may understand a red line on a map represents a road (dual representation) but believe that the road will be red. The next step for young children is to develop a more abstract understanding of symbols. Both PUT IN-TEXT CITATION FOR TEXTBOOK and Liben claim that understanding dual representations is a complex process requiring multiple levels of symbolic skills.
Part B
A second application is that …….. Put your concept for Part B here and explain it. The word minimum is 200 words.
| Center this |
References
| Cite the print version of the article. |
Liben, L. (2009). The road to understanding maps. Current Directions in Psychological Science,
18(6), 310-315. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01658.x.
| If you cite other sources they must be in this list. |
Also include the citation for the textbook. The necessary information is in the Instructions for the Summary Paper. Cite the print version. Remember that there are rules for how to order the citations in the reference list and you need to follow them.
Plagiarism Statement:
I understand that plagiarism is considered cheating and it is the wrong thing to do. If my paper has 4 or more words that are identical to those in another source I should put them in quotation marks and include the correct citation. If they are not in quotation marks, with the correct citation, I will receive a 0 on the paper. I understand that I should use the APA style of referencing.
