Card work

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The main aim of classroom map work is that the pupils gain spatial ideas and information about geospaces from cartographic teaching materials . Even if card work in general education schools, i.e. the use of cards as carriers of spatial information, is not primarily an “end in itself” (work on the card), but primarily serves as a “means to an end” (work with the card) , so it is important to increase the card skills of the students over the course of the school years . Card competencies are the skills that allow you to decode, evaluate and create cards. For spatial sciences (and teaching subjects), the map is indispensable as a medium for displaying spatial information and thus map competence. Sun is also used by A. Hüttermann (1998, p 14) between knowledge about cards and instructional work with distinguished cards. The following statements apply above all to the German school system.

Lower level

The school card work begins in lower grades 2, 3 and 4, i.e. in elementary school. The introduction of the pupils to the essence of the medium "map" (work on the map) and the use of this teaching material for the formation of geospatial imaginations and for the acquisition of information about the pupils' experience and home areas (work with the map) must be carried out in the local history / specialist class Lower level take place, as the regional units of this subject can no longer be identified in most cases by direct (direct) observation (hike, course, excursion, project day, etc.) as they progress from near to far. In grade 3 it is generally the home district or, for large cities, the district or the city district; in the fourth grade it is the home state or the entire territory of the city and its surroundings.

In general, the pupils are led inductively from direct observation via models and plans of the school premises and their hometown to the map of their home district (grades 2 and 3) and to the map of their own federal state (grade 4). Above all, the following levels of abstraction must be mastered by the students :

  1. Rethinking from the view to the oblique view to the top view .
  2. Learning the linear reduction of images as a result of changes in scale.
  3. Intellectual translation from the pictorial representation into the cartographic representation ( from image to map ).
  4. Understanding the progressive cartographic simplification (content and graphical generalization) as a result of further scaling down (increasing the "intellectual viewing height").
  5. Determination of cardinal direction on and with the map.
  6. Distance determination (using the scale bar) on the map.

In Potsdam school experiments with anaglyph materials (1967–1970), instead of the conventional inductive approach when introducing the students to understanding maps, the deductive path of knowledge was taken to save time.

The aim of the path of knowledge when getting to know the features of a map are mostly the general geographic maps of the home district and the home state, whereby the relief representation on this map type forms a didactic focus, especially since it not only marks the location of important landscape regions, but also crucial for the formation of three-dimensional ideas of space. In addition, the students learn techniques for using cards , e.g. B. Northing the map, determining the distance on the map, working with the legend, determining the position and description of the position of objects on the map. They are also introduced to independent map drawing (e.g. outline map work, making simple map sketches).

Thus, by the end of the fourth grade, the pupils should have a basic knowledge of the medium "map" and demonstrate initial skills in the use of maps.

Intermediate and advanced level

In the middle level (grades 5–7 / 8) and in the upper level (grades 8 / 9–12 / 13) of the schools a broad system forms the timetable of the lessons. A more or less systematic further development of the map understanding introduced in the lower grades (grades 1–4 of elementary school) and the use of maps takes place primarily in the subject of geography, for which almost every geographic world atlas and regional atlas has a section entitled "Introduction to map understanding" or " From Image to Map ”is available; Sometimes introductions to different types of maps or special information on how to use this atlas are included. In some other subjects - for example history , social studies and politics - cartographic representations are increasingly used as media. In these neighboring subjects of geography, however, map work is primarily "work with the map".

The following explanations are based on analog maps (printed maps), but can also be largely applied to the digital sector .

In geography lessons in class 5 not only the existing cartographic knowledge and skills to consolidate the students, but by the introduction and use of thematic maps substantially extended. It concerns physical-geographical topics (e.g. geomorphology and climate), anthropogeographical topics (e.g. economy and transport) and political maps (e.g. administrative division or grouping of states). Each card type has its own special character key, which the students must consciously observe. Legend variations also exist between titles of a type. The pupils recognize, among other things, that the same thing is not always shown the same on different map types and on different scales (e.g. traffic routes and settlements), the same appears the same on different map types (e.g. rivers) or that different things are shown the same way can (e.g. strata and land use).

Even historical maps , which are used from the fifth grade are thematic maps, such as location maps of castles, monasteries and places of slaughter, territorial maps of dominions or maps of campaigns, mass migration and territorial changes. The history teachers usually assume that the students have an understanding of maps and cartographic skills as well as territorial and spatial ideas.

The geography lessons, which start in parallel in grade 5, mainly deal with the “immediate area” of Germany; In history lessons, however, in most federal states, the “more distant” regions of the Mediterranean and the Middle East form the pupils' development and knowledge space. Quite a few students experience history as a collection of isolated action images in the 5th grade. Nevertheless, the history lesson in grade 5 is also a crucial stage in introducing the students to the diversity of the map world that is open to the students in this grade. Class 5 is the “main field” of further developing map comprehension.

Already in this grade level, but intensified in the following school years , in addition to simple map reading (what - where?), Map evaluation functions as the focus of classroom map work. The focus is on the recognition of connections, the extraction of "indirect" information, in particular through "map comparisons" (synoptic map evaluation). Map reading is in principle only a point-by-point map analysis in the form of elementary / inventory analyzes (what - where?) And feature analyzes (how, which characteristics?) Of selected individual objects (e.g. locations or mineral deposits), so it is primarily topographical work ( what – where – how?). The Kartenauswerten contrast, one -dimensionally -scale exploration in the form of feature analysis (what-where-how?) And of causal and functional analysis (why / why?), So for example, includes the writing of regional structures (eg. Hydrographic situation settlement network or transport network ) as well as the recognition or derivation and explanation / interpretation of territorial processes / developments (e.g. location relationships, changes in landscape, changes in areas of influence), which is particularly supported by thematic map comparisons.

In the corresponding subjects, the students must be able to achieve an increasing degree of independence in dealing with the various types of cards. The promotion of map drawing (making simple map sketches), which particularly supports the development and consolidation of topographical knowledge, is an important task in the middle and upper grades. Getting to know the graticule and working on the globe in geography lessons in middle grades limit the ability to memorize “false worldviews” (deformations, area disproportions). The preferred use of the "Winkel network design" on world maps also contributes to this.

The growing thematic share of world maps in all (world) school atlases should be used in particular, especially since global topics are increasingly finding their place in the framework plans of many subjects. The new development of interdisciplinary integration atlases is also very welcome.

In the Austrian curriculum for “geography and economics” for 10 to 14-year-olds there is a “learning ramp map understanding” based on the thematic structure. Starting with “a look at the earth”, one begins in the 1st grade / 5th grade with the work with the atlas (small-scale maps); continues in the 6th grade with the subjects of "Living in urban-industrial spaces" additionally with work on the city map, furthermore with the street map and topograms; in the 7th grade also uses the ÖK 1: 50,000 (or 25V) or other large-scale hiking maps and satellite images when working out the large landscapes of Austria.

See also

literature

  • Atlas and map. Geographie und Schule , H. 80 (1992) (special issue).
  • Breetz, Egon: The systematic introduction of card reading in the lower level - an essential prerequisite for the effective organization of geography lessons. In: Wiss. Zt. D. PH Potsdam , H. 4/1970, pp. 773-781.
  • Breetz, Egon: To understand maps in local history and geography lessons. (East) Berlin 1975, 126 pp.
  • Fiala, Hans-Joachim: The card in history lessons. (East) Berlin 1967, 104 pp.
  • Haubrich, Hartwig (Ed.): Learning to teach geography. Munich 2006
  • Herzig, Reinhard: The student's first encounter with the topographic map when analyzing their home area. In: Zt. Fd Geography lesson. , H. 11/1993, pp. 308-315.
  • Herzig, R .; Hüttermann, A .; Fichtner, U .: Cartographic competence of first-year students in geoscientific subjects. In: Kartogr. Nachr. , H. 6/2007, pp. 318-326.
  • Hüttermann, Armin: The topographic map as a geographical tool. Der Gekundeunterricht, H. 26 (1978), 72 pp.
  • Hüttermann, Armin: Map reading - (not) an art. Didactics of geography . Munich 1998, 148 pp.
  • Hüttermann, Armin: Developing card skills further. In: geographie heute, H. 269, 2009, S. 16-222.
  • Jarausch, Helga: On the specifics of map work in the exploration of the home environment by primary school children in material classes. In: Kartogr. Schr. , Vol. 8, Bonn 2003, pp. 16-32.
  • Krumbholz, Dieter: Working with rules of action - a necessary component for making student activities more effective or a “fad”? In: Zt. Fd Geography under. , H. 11/1979, pp. 417-427.
  • Pellens, Karl: Historical maps in class. In: Didactics of History . Villingen-Schwenningen 1986, pp. 260-274.
  • Raisch, Herbert: Less is often more! - Basics of map work in history lessons. In: Praxis Geschichte , H. 4/1999, S. 4-11.
  • Rhode-Jüchtern, Tilman: Learning to read the room. Change of perspective as a geographical concept. Munich 1996
  • Schlimme, Wolfgang: Topographical knowledge and skills in geography lessons. (East) Berlin 1983, 128 pp.
  • Schwalm, Edgar: Instrumental and cognitive learning goals in card work in history and politics lessons. In: H. Süssmuth (Ed.): Historical-political instruction , media. Stuttgart 1973, pp. 70-132.
  • Sitte, Christian: The learning ramp “orientate oneself” (PDF; 4.2 MB) in the GW curriculum and in geography (and economics) lessons with regard to competence orientation . In: Wiener Schriften zur Kartographie und Geographie Vol. 20 , Vienna 2011, pp. 251–266.
  • Sperling, Walter: Map and aerial photo interpretation as instrumental learning goals. In: Geographie fd Schule , Braunschweig 1978, pp. 226–232.