Aligning Mapping Skills With Digitally Connected Childhoods to Advance the Development of Spatial Cognition and Ways of Thinking in Primary School Geography

Abstract

New technologies are changing the ways that children navigate, find places, make and use maps, and explore the world. This is the geospatial revolution. Children live in a world of rapid technological innovation bringing new opportunities for cognitive development in school geography. Geography learning is an important component of primary school curriculum in Australia and internationally. However how young people’s mapping skills can be developed in a digitally connected realm has become an important question. These technologies require us to rethink the teaching of mapping skills in primary schools, both to take advantage of technology, and to connect with children who are growing up in a..