Meaningful maps: what can we learn about ' sense of place' from maps produced by children?

Freehand sketch maps can provide a powerful means of understanding children’s spatial skills and geographic knowledge, but they can also be used to provide rich documentation of children’s ‘sense of place’. This paper provides some preliminary findings from the Meaningful Maps project launched in 2017. The maps produced by children during the pilot phase show some commonalities with other studies, but also suggest that interpreting these images is a complex matter involving a need to understand children’s education, social background, and their opportunities to explore their locality