Development of Map Construction Skills in Childhood

Two studies examined children's map construction skills when drawing demands were removed from the task and scenes were highly simplified. Study 1 compared the performance of first graders and third graders on their ability to preserve configuration during transformation of pictured arrays from eye-level to aerial views. For children with difficulties, Study 2 exposed groups to enhanced vantage points, either pictured from an elevated view or displayed with actual blocks, to investigate effects of support on performance. Results on eye-level to aerial transformations showed that children's ability to map spatial relations developed significantly between the first and third grades, basic configuration skills were gender-neutral, and specificity of details was better for boys by third grade. Enhanced vantage points significantly improved configuration accuracy for both grades (favoring first graders) and both genders (favoring girls). Enhancements eliminated depth errors that were common in arrays with occlusions. In sum, improvement in map construction skills between first grade and third grade demonstrated increased understanding of alternative spatial perspectives, and enhanced vantage points promoted use of projective spatial concepts that were already active in younger children.