6.2 Orienteering taskNeither of the following pairs had encountered significant difficulty in deducing the given route from their respective leading pairs. In fact, both teams of four took approximately the same duration to complete the task – 82 minutes for the first iteration, and 78 minutes for the second.
In total, Siti and Hashwin had sent a text-message every 6.0 minutes (which was half as frequently as Leonard and Samuel the preceding day) and a picture-message every 11.1 minutes (that is, they sent some sort of message to Munira and Shu’er every 3.9 minutes (compared to 2.5 minutes for Leonard and Samuel). Munira and Shu’er sent a text-message every 2.3 minutes and, just like their leading pair, a picture-message every 11.1 minutes (that is, a message of some sort was sent by them every 3.4 minutes). Despite sending messages less frequently than Leonard and Samuel had done, a greater proportion (42 percent compared to 28 percent) of the messages that Siti and Hashwin sent employed allocentric Frames of Reference to complement egocentric Frames of Reference. This would account for the similar durations that each of the two teams of four needed to complete the orienteering task.
It is intriguing to contemplate the extent to which the participants’ understandings of maps might have mediated their performance in the orienteering task. For example, Figure 23 is a transcript which took place between the principal investigator and Munira, who turned in the eighth most improved performance in the spatial tests with respect to the population who participated in the main study. The first conversation took place during Munira’s pre-test (in which she had wrongly oriented the given map 180 degrees and had incorrectly deduced the axis of panoramic rotation by 150 metres), while the second was during the post-test (in which she was able to accurately deduce both the angle of rotation and its axis). In both cases, the transcript begins at the point of time at which Munira indicates to the principal investigator where on the map she believes the axis of panoramic rotation is (in the transcript, ‘PI’ refers to the principal investigator, and ‘S’ refers to the student).
PRE-TEST
PI: Why did you choose here
S: Because like i’m between these two and then i see a taxi stand
PI: Where’s the taxi stand
S: There’s a man waiting i don’t know for what maybe it’s for taxi and then what looks like this side... wait, ah...
PI: ... This part here which corresponds...
S: ... This looks like ‘Pickering’
PI: Ah ok
S: And then as we go here all the buildings look very grand
PI: I have one question for you: if you say we’re standing here right, South Canal Road is on the left and Chulia is on the right
S: Ya but this one is on the right and Chulia is on the left
PI: Exactly so there’s a problem we’re not standing here so how would you resolve that problem
Fifteen second pause
S: Somewhere here?
PI: Ok if we’re here, South Canal Road would still be on the left and Chulia on the right. How would you solve the problem of getting it
S: Oh ok ok
Continued attempts
PI: Ok ah i show you ah
S: Ok
PI: One two three
Investigator reveals answer by rotating the map ‘upside down’
S: Huh
PI: Chulia, South Canal
S: So where are you standing
PI: Here
S: Oh
PI: Get it or not
S: Yah whyever is the map upside down
PI: Because i never said the map would have to be this way what
S: I didn’t know that
POST-TEST
PI: Why there
S: Because that’s the only bridge i can find but it can be here and here also
PI: Ok when you say bridge you are referring to which bridge
S: This bridge initially i saw this bridge i mean
PI: Ok where’s the bridge that one there right there’s a bridge there right
S: Yah and then i was looking for the Singtel building but i can’t find it
PI: Ok never mind. So you’re using the bridge and the bridge is to our right, right
S: Hmm
PI: We will see it if we turn right, right? so where do you think we are
S: You are here
PI: Ok show me again
S: Oh you can be here also
PI: Ok umm let’s decide on one spot and then we’ll work from there
S: This one
PI: Ok so this is this bridge ah so we’re standing somewhere here right? The problem is if we’re standing here, right, if we turn to our left...
S: ... we will see another bridge
PI: We will see another bridge
S: Which is not there
PI: So we’re not here, right
S: Umm
PI: So where else mght we be... this is the bridge ok let’s say this is the
bridge but we can only see this bridge if we turn right so where would we be? whereas here the bridge appears to be on our left, right?
S: Hmm
PI: So what do we need to do in order to see that bridge when we turn right... ok great excellent you’re getting warmer so now when we turn to our right we see this bridge, right? then when we turn to our left we don’t see any bridges which is correct, right? great so we know we’re somewhere here so narrow it down to a particular point. i tell you what you can do: you look behind you - if you look behind you, you will see some stuff. so where do you think we are? Do you understand what i’ve just done? We’re looking behind. I mean the water is here, right?
S: Hmm
PI: So now we’re looking here, so where would we be
S: Here
PI: Ok now you’re pointing in the middle of a building - so we’re not in the middle of a building - we’re near the water’s edge, as you know. are we in agreement that we’re near the water’s edge?
S: Yah
PI: So where along here
S: Here
PI: Ok why there
S: Because Raffles landing site somewhere like the boat land
PI: And you see [a statue of] Raffles there, right? Any other clues
S: And this one looks like a museum
PI: Ok which would obviously correspond to this thing here. I was just wondering did the road help you or not? were you able to use this
S: Is it a road?
PI: Yah you don’t recognise it to be a road, right
Figure 23. Extract of transcript from Munira’s pre- and post-tests
The transcript of the pre-test represented in Figure 23 is instructive in that it reminds geography teachers that when it comes to maps and map-reading skills, not even the most basic knowledge should be taken for granted. It is obvious that even after having been presented with the correct answer, Munira’s paradigm as to how a map could and could not be read and used had still not immediately shifted. The Gestalt that one would have expected did not take place. Munira would have encountered maps before, during the geography syllabus of the preceding year. It would appear that her learning of maps and mapskills was surface / inert knowledge, and she had difficulty transferring her knowledge into a real-world application.
It is therefore clear that the pre-conceptions and mis-conceptions that Munira had, with respect to the degrees of freedom permissible during ground-to-map orientations, were interfering with her successful operation within a socially-mediated ZPD. In other words, geography teachers would do well to bear in mind the implicit role played by spatial relations and visualizations in mediating cognition, even in a socially-idealized learning environment.
In addition, the transcript from the post-test represented in Figure 23 once again betrays the noticeability of artificial structures in the environment, particularly axial lines and buildings, with respect to their prominence in the mental maps that adolescents construct. This is a theme which continues to surface, not only in these interview transcripts, but also in the photographic evidence used in the perspectives tasks and in the sketch maps produced by the students.
<- 6.1 Introduction -> 6.3 Cognitive maps | 
