5.2.2 Orienteering task

The first thirty-two minutes of the activity (till time index 1518) can be contrasted with the last thirty-eight minutes of the activity (from time index 1524), in terms of the way in which the leading pair had attempted to coach the following pair.  Specifically, Xin Ni and Genevieve did not seem to be paying much attention initially to the responses that they were receiving from Yvonne and Amanda.  

It has been suggested earlier that picture-messages represent implicit attempts at communicating egocentric Frames of Reference.  Yet, as was the case for three students described in Case One, the mere sharing of egocentric Frames of Reference is sometimes not sufficient in wayfinding.  This mirrors the results obtained by Bidwell (2004).  It is here postulated that for egocentric Frames of Reference to succeed better in facilitating the process of wayfinding, they should preferably be used in conjunction with allocentric Frames of Reference (that is, spatial references which are predicated upon specific objects in the environment).  For example, at time index 1510, Xin Ni and Genevieve issue a tentative instruction making reference to an egocentric Frame of Reference, without first grounding it to an allocentric Frame of Reference, namely “turn left and find rc?”

In contrast, the second half of the afternoon’s activity seemed to have proceeded more smoothly, mainly due to the effective use of consecutive allocentric Frames of Reference to complement a series of egocentric Frames of Reference.  Further, each instruction makes explicit reference to objects which were mentioned in the preceding messages, thus enabling the following pair to verify their progress against actual landmarks in the environment.  This finding is in accordance with prior research on spatial discourse in general, and on the provision of route directions in particular (Daniel and Denis, 1998, 2004; Denis, 1997; Denis et al., 1999).  In effect, the leading pair was scaffolding the task for the following pair.

This same scaffolding is also in evidence in the messaging exchange between Aaron, Sherman (who were the leading pair) and Kaushik and Arvind (who were following) in the same neighbourhood on the very next day.  

Like their classmates on the preceding day, Aaron and Sherman took a little time (though proportionately less than that on the preceding day) to establish an effective ‘rhythm’ to their usage of allocentric Frames of Reference in complementarity to the communication of egocentric Frames of Reference.  They deduced the appropriacy of this technique after sixteen minutes (that is, from time index 1501 onwards) and successfully applied it for the rest of the afternoon’s activity. 

In total, Aaron and Sherman took 61 minutes to communicate the entire route to Kaushik and Arvind.  Aaron and Sherman had sent a text-message every 3.8 minutes and a picture-message every 30.3 minutes (that is, they sent some sort of message to Kaushik and Arvind every 3.4 minutes, and Kaushik and Arvind sent a text-message every 3.8 minutes and a picture-message every 20.4 minutes (that is, a message of some sort was sent by Kaushik and Arvind every 3.2 minutes). 

<- 5.2.1 Introduction          -> 5.2.3 Cognitive maps