Natural Mapping

Blaut, J. M.

doi:10.2307/622906

Cited by 42 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…Crawling infants can solve “detour problems” (Sophian and Sage 1985; Wellman 1985), locating and reaching hidden objects. After learning to toddle and then walk—an important milestone for mapping behavior—the child learns about relatively distant objects in the interior and exterior landscape (Bremner and Bryant 1985; Cohen and Cohen 1985; McKenzie and Bigelow 1986), and mobility allows her or him not only to understand more about properties of the fixed things in the environment (the landscape features) but also to acquire a somewhat primitive awareness of spatial relations among these features (Spencer, Blades, and Morsley 1989; Blaut 1991). Before he or she is two years old, the child is playing with toys that are models of landscape features, viewing them from a more‐or‐less overhead perspective, and moving them about on a surface (the floor or ground) which stands for the surface of the world.…”

Section: The Development Of Mapping Abilities In Young Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We suggest that this finding has significant implications for education in both developed and developing countries. Space does not permit us to discuss these implications in detail here, and we must refer the reader to other reports (Muir and Blaut 1970; Stea and Blaut 1973b, 2000; Spencer and Darvizeh 1981; Blades and Spencer 1986, 1987; Spencer, Blades, and Morsley 1989; Blaut 1991; Sowden et al 1996; Spencer 1998; Stea et al 2000).…”

Section: Some Educational Implications and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…See, e.g., Hirschfeld and Gelman (1994), Elman et al (1996), Pinker (1994), and Wallace (1989). We may recall that Erwin Raisz (1948, 3) suggested that mapping is “an inborn aptitude of humanity.” Although Blaut (1991) discussed the possibility that there may be an innate map‐acquisition device homologous with Chomsky's (1965) postulated language‐acquisition device, this remains an unsupported speculation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mapping as a Cultural and Cognitive Universal

Blaut

Stea

Spencer

et al. 2003

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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We hypothesize that nearly all humans, in all cultures, acquire the ability to read and use map-like models in very early childhood, and that this ability is a fundamental part of human ecological adaptation, comparable in many ways to tool use. Evidence pertaining to this theory should be sought in three kinds of research: studies in differing cultures of the development of young children's ability to use map-like models; studies probing for evidence of maplike modeling across the ethnographic spectrum; and studies probing for evidence of the use of map-like models in prehistory. We are pursuing all three lines of research. However, our main focus thus far has been on the developmental dimension of the problem. Here, we report evidence that supports the universality hypothesis from seven empirical studies carried out on mapping abilities of three-to five-year-old children in several Western and non-Western cultures; we offer a general ecological theory of the development of mapping abilities, a theory that appears to explain the evidence elicited and accords with the universality hypothesis; and we discuss the implications of this work for early childhood education.

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Section: The Development Of Mapping Abilities In Young Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Some Educational Implications and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mapping as a Cultural and Cognitive Universal

Blaut

Stea

Spencer

et al. 2003

Annals of the Association of American Geographers

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“…In geography, at about this time, a focus on language and the study of children's knowledge development was garnering a more critical edge. As part of the larger study at Clark University, Blaut challenged the staged notions of child development, at least in terms of their spatial awareness, through some of the radical ideas of Noam Chomsky (Blaut , ). For over a decade, Blaut had argued that a child's spatial abilities showed up at a much earlier age than Piagetian theory predicted, and that they were capable of rudimentary mapping from the age of three onwards (Blaut and others ; Blaut and Stea ).…”

Section: The Impression Of Children's Geographiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children's Geographies: Tracing The Evolution and Involution of a Concept

Aitken

2018

Geographical Review

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ABSTRACT. This essay traces the evolution of children's geographies as a concept through three phases. First, in the early 1970s as a beginning impression influenced heavily by developmental and environmental psychology. Second, beginning around 1990, children's geographies cohered politically as geographers focused on young people's identity through feminism and Marxism, and global policy initiatives on children's rights. The third phase, covering the last couple of decades, coming from issues of political identity, challenges what we think we know about young people and their geographies, and also advocates a set of loose theories about the ways young people create and re-create spaces and themselves. Cognate disciplines coming to geography for insights about children and their worlds characterize this current phase. To offset this seeming linear progression the essay also notes an involution of the concept that defies clear categories and sequences, but suggests the fluidity of tensions and accommodations that comprises children's geographies.

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“…Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Handbooks Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy). Subscriber: Northwestern University; date: 28 August 2015 relations among the locations contained therein (Blaut, 1991;Uttal, 2000). This perspective can be important because we commonly do not have the chance to see the space in this way during navigation.…”

Section: Mapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Development

2016

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education

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This chapter is a selective review of spatial development, stressing several points. First, we suggest that spatial development can be usefully considered to have two strands: (a) the development of intraobject (or intrinsic) representations along with the ability to transform them (e.g., in mental rotation) and (b) the development of interobject (or extrinsic) representations and the ability to use them to navigate. Second, we argue that both lines of development begin from strong starting points, but also undergo considerable development. They are far from innately specified, nor do they have a modular architecture. Third, we discuss the amplification of spatial skills by human symbolic capabilities, including language, use of maps and models, and gesture. Fourth, we identify areas where research is lacking, most notably the formal description of intraobject skills and the charting of their normative development, the exploration of the sources of individual differences in navigation-relevant skills, and the applications of research to education.

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Natural Mapping

Cited by 42 publications

References 45 publications

Mapping as a Cultural and Cognitive Universal

Mapping as a Cultural and Cognitive Universal

Children's Geographies: Tracing The Evolution and Involution of a Concept

Spatial Development

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