A study explored the group mapping activity, a process that encourages each reader to construct a visual schema or map following the reading of a story. It also sought to determine if there is a developmental sequence in eighth grade and college students' mapping and if these representations provided new insights into how readers process language. Subjects were 26 eighth grade students and 30 college sophomores, all of whom participated in their respective language arts classes. After a story was presented to them by means of the directed reading thinking activity, students completed a written retelling of the story and then mapped their perceptions of the selection. Results indicated that both groups drew essentially the same percentage of interactive, identification, and linear maps, but they differed considerably in the ways they distributed the internal elements (character relationships, symbolic awareness, sequence of events, and ancillary characters) and the character/thematic components (protagonists, protagonist shift, theme, protagonist and theme, and protagonist shift and theme) among the three map classifications. These results seem to support the idea that the college students were at a higher developmental level. (JL)