Do Maps Contribute to Pupils’ Learning Skills in Primary Schools?

ABSTRACT With the use of maps in different areas, a wide range of users exist who vary in their purposes and needs, according to their education level, age, cognitive level, and so on. Maps used by students in basic education need to be carefully designed and cartographers have important duties and responsibilities in designing maps according to the cognitive development levels of child users. An atlas design and production project entitled 'Atlas of Turkey for Elementary School' was carried out by the authors for the first stage of education. The aim of the study is to determine the contribution of the atlas to learning, reading and using maps. Thus, a questionnaire was applied to 494 students including 73 3rd grade (8–9 years) and 421 4th grade (9–10 years) students in four different schools. The results indicate that the use of the atlas increased the students' learning ability by an average of 40%.