Using Web Maps to Analyze the Construction of Global Scale Cognitive Maps. Issue 4 (4th July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pingel, Thomas J.
• Is Part Of: Journal of geography. Volume 117:Issue 4(2018)
• Page Start: 153
• Page End: 164
• Publication Date: 2018-07-04
• Subjects: computer-assisted instruction -- digital maps -- geocognition -- geographic information science (GISci) -- geography education; Geography -- Periodicals; Geography -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 910.71
• DOI: 10.1080/00221341.2017.1378364
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-1341

Abstract

Abstract: Game-based Web sites and applications are changing the ways in which students learn the world map. In this study, a Web map-based digital learning tool was used as a study aid for a university-level geography course in order to examine the way in which global scale cognitive maps are constructed. A network analysis revealed that clicks were negatively correlated with familiarity, but were positively correlated with area. More significantly, well-known countries did not act as central nodes within network-based mental models, but served a more complex mediating role in structuring the space between subregions.