Development of Children's Cognitive Maps Before and After Fieldwork: Focusing on Qualitative Changes in Spatial Cognition

Abstract

This study investigates the developmental changes in elementary school students' cognitive maps, focusing particularly on qualitative aspects such as the structuring of spatial information and the understanding of spatial relationships, as a result of local-area fieldwork. Clarifying how children's mental maps evolve through exploration is crucial for enhancing disaster risk reduction education, which must equip children with the ability to make instantaneous spatial judgments and select safe evacuation routes when adults are absent during a disaster. Traditional disaster education often focuses on specific scenarios like "at school" or "at home," leaving children vulnerable during solitary activities like commuting or playing. Given that communication failures in actual disasters may render navigation systems useless, the reliance on an accurate "map in their heads"—the cognitive map—is paramount for effective evacuation behavior. Children's cognitive maps are generally less developed than those of adults, progressing from landmark-centered to route-based, and eventually to bird's-eye view survey maps. This research, guided by Montello's framework, uses a comparative analysis of hand-drawn maps to reveal the cues children use to construct local space.

Keywords: Disaster Risk Reduction Education, Sketch map method, Survey Map, Route Map

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007057