ERIC Number: ED060966
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1971-Sep
Pages: 68
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Studies of Place Perception in Elementary and Pre-School Education. Vol. I. Final Report.
Blaut, J. M.
A research project of environmental learning in children is discussed. Most of the studies conducted during the research involved observation of children aged 3-12, in mapping and free environmental behavior, and in curricular experiments using perceptual surrogates for map-learning and macro-environmental conceptualization in the lower elementary grades. Other studies deal with topics related to the central problem of place perception, cognition, and cathexis and the need for data and theory which will assist in reforming macro environmental education in geography, social science, and elsewhere. Topics include psychophysics of map and color perception, unschooled environmental learning in peasant communities, epistemological assumptions (and their origins) underlying macro-spatial teaching, cognitive-cathectic beliefs found in textbooks and analyzed ethnogeographically, and the logical-linguistic-iconic structure of the map language. The main finding has been that mapping behavior is so highly developed before school-entering age that formal map skills and theoretical concepts in geography, social science, etc., are easily and eagerly grasped. A general model of environmental learning has resulted in a curriculum model that is now being tested in three states and Puerto Rico. The Contents of Volume II, Place Perception Research Reports, and of Volume III, Publications, Manuscript Reports and Perceptual Surrogages: Cumulative Files are given. (Author/DB)
Descriptors: Age Differences, Behavior Patterns, Cognitive Development, Concept Formation, Cross Cultural Studies, Curriculum Development, Elementary Education, Environment, Geography, Instructional Materials, Learning, Learning Theories, Linguistics, Map Skills, Models, Perceptual Development, Preschool Education, Publications, Research Methodology, Research Projects, Social Sciences, Space Orientation
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC. Bureau of Research.
Authoring Institution: Clark Univ., Worcester, MA.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Volume I of III; Vols. II and III are supplementary documents. Vol. I will be published as "Place Perception Research Report No. 9"