A CROSS-CULTURAL-STUDY OF YOUNG CHILDRENS MAPPING ABILITIES

The mapping abilities of four-year-old children in York, England, Durb an, South Africa, Tehran, Iran, Mexico City, Mexico and Evanston, Illi nois, USA were investigated, using a methodology involving air-photo i dentification and simulated navigation on an air photo. The results sh ow that essential mapping abilities (perspective and scale transformat ions) are well developed by the age of four in these cultures, and pro vide some evidence in support of the hypothesis that mapping abilities emerge without training in very young children of all cultures.