SGER: Investigating Map Understanding and Learning in the Context of a Family Museum Exhibit

地图是一种强大的工具，用于记录和系统化数据，生成和测试有关现象和过程的假设。地图是广泛科学的核心，其中包括地理学、地质学、流行病学、公共卫生、人类学、生态学和区域规划。它们被用来支持地球内外的探索；它们被用于教室和日常生活中。但这两件轶事(“我看不懂地图！”)科学研究(例如，参见2006年国家科学院报告，空间思维)表明，并不是所有人都能成功地理解和使用地图。发展心理学的研究表明，许多儿童和成年人对地图和地图功能的看法非常有限(例如，认为地图只用于认路)，难以理解地图所含的空间信息如何与现实世界联系起来(例如，误解比例)，以及可能难以解释地图的象征意义(例如，错误地假设红线代表红线)。在非正式学习环境中，父母的指导可能是儿童发展地图理解能力的一个潜在的重要途径。这项研究项目考察了鼓励儿童在非正式学习环境中发展与地图有关的技能的过程。具体来说，这项研究将在印第安纳波利斯儿童博物馆进行。儿童博物馆已经开发了一个新的展览，地图：冒险的工具。展览旨在向参观者介绍不同的地图类型、地图技能、地图用途和与地图有关的探索。在这项研究中，有6到12岁孩子的家庭(N=80)将被邀请成为“展览探险家”。从家庭收集人口统计信息后，家庭成员将完成入门评估，以衡量空间技能、地图体验和地图概念。当参与者离开时，他们将完成一项地图位置任务，并重复地图概念任务。在展览本身，将在涵盖各种实质性主题的五个具体展品上对家庭进行录像。数据将有助于定性描述教学和参与策略，并定量分析儿童对与家长策略、性别、年龄和空间技能有关的地图任务的反应。这项研究将有助于认知发展、家庭互动以及儿童、父母和背景变量之间的相互作用的基础知识。此外，该项目将确定一系列教学策略，这些策略稍后可能适用于家长教育和正规课堂教学的项目。这项工作对地理教学很重要，对在其他依赖于空间分布数据(例如公共卫生、生态学)的表示的学科中教授科学概念可能也有影响。最后，这项工作将有助于游客研究领域，为博物馆研究提供一种新的模式，在这种模式下，数据在单个家庭单位内收集和协调，并将帮助有兴趣建立新的面向家庭、方便使用的展览的博物馆馆长。

Maps are powerful tools used to record and to systematize data, to generate and test hypotheses about phenomena and processes. Maps are central to a wide range of sciences, including-among many others-geography, geology, epidemiology, public health, anthropology, ecology, and regional planning. They are used to support exploration both on and beyond Earth; they are used in classrooms and in daily life. But both anecdotes ("I can't read a map!") and scientific research (e.g., see 2006 National Academy of Sciences report, Thinking Spatially) shows that not all people succeed in understanding and using maps. Work in developmental psychology has shown that many children and adults have very restricted views of maps and map functions (e.g., thinking that they are used exclusively for wayfinding), have difficulty understanding how spatial information contained in maps is linked to the real world (e.g., misunderstanding scale), and may have difficulty in interpreting the symbolic meaning of maps (e.g., mistakenly assuming that a red line stands for a red road). One potentially important path by which children may develop their map understanding is through parental guidance in informal learning environments. This research project examines the processes by which children are encouraged to develop map-related skills in informal learning settings. Specifically, the research will take place at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The Children's Musuem has developed a new exhibition, MAPS: Tools for Adventure. The exhibition is designed to introduce visitors to varied map types, map skills, map uses, and map-related exploration. For this research, families (N=80) with children between ages of 6 to 12 years will be invited to be "Exhibition Explorers." After demographic information has been collected from families, family members will complete entry assessments that measure spatial skills, map experience, and map concepts. As participants exit, they will complete a map location task and repeat the map concept task. While in the exhibition itself, families will be videotaped at five specific exhibits which cover a variety of substantive topics. Data will allow qualitative descriptions of teaching and engagement strategies and quantitative analyses of children's responses to the map tasks in relation to parent strategies, gender, age, and spatial skills. This research will contribute to basic knowledge in cognitive-development, family interaction, and the interplay among child, parent, and contextual variables. In addition, the project will identify a range of teaching strategies that may later be adapted for programs in both parent education and formal classroom instruction. Such work is important for teaching geography and likely implications for teaching scientific concepts in other disciplines that rely on representations of spatially distributed data (e.g., public health, ecology). Finally, this work will contribute to the field of visitor studies by providing a new model for museum research in which data are collected and coordinated within single family units and will assist musuem directors interested in establishing new family-oriented, use-friendly exhibitions.