Detecting differences between the map reading strategies of novice and expert students of geography: A pilot study

Being able to find our way in a city, to follow a path while hiking, or to drive along the route the GPS presents us are all connected to spatial ability.Spatial ability is a skill that develops within people almost since birth, and is one of the skills that are essential in everyday life.Teaching and learning proper map reading during formal education helps us to expand this skill (Dong et al., 2018; Grieves and Jeffrey, 2017;Jacobs and Schenk, 2003); however, there is little information available on how map reading is implemented, especially in geography classes, what individual characteristics determine its successful learning (Havelkov and Gobiowska, 2019), and how it can be effectively taught and expanded during formal education.