Introduction to the Literature

Above all, we are interested in these questions:

• What value do map reading and navigation skills have for children?

• What is a "sense of place", and how does it affect a person's material situation and well-being?

• How can we assess map reading and navigation skills?

• How do children acquire map reading and navigation skills, and how is that influenced by socio-economic and other factors?

• How can we effectively teach map reading and navigation? How must we modify these techniques for specific learners' experience, knowledge and capabilities?

• What interventions might affect sense of place in a way that leads to improved outcomes?

In addition, we'd like to collect articles on the value of being outdoors in nature, which is different (though can overlap) from the value of map skills for kids. Therefore, we've got a separate page in this document summarizing research on being outdoors in nature.

What we teach in our navigation games, that we'd like to show the value of:

• Sequencing - checking things off a list

  • Finding things

  • Making your own list

• Map reading

  • Spatial awareness

  • Spatial relationships

  • Spatial vocabulary

  • Orienting using overall geometry of the space

  • Orienting using features

  • Orienting using cue about overall direction (compass, sun, wind, noise, single major large border feature)

  • Describing where you are on the map; someone else can point it out

• Social emotional

  • Trusting a map and your navigation in unfamiliar territory

  • Map these skills to other areas of life

  • Enjoyment. The pleasure of finding a checkpoint.

  • Community. Communication. Collaboration. Roles.