Pupils' perception of maps

The diploma thesis focuses on pupils' map perception and its main objective is to characterize how sixth-grade pupils perceive visuals that resemble maps in their appearance or characteristics, or are defined as maps according to commonly used definitions. The theoretical part of the thesis explains in detail the concept of maps in foreign and Czech literature, but also in geography textbooks for the sixth grade of elementary schools. An important part of the theoretical part is also the description of mental map schemata, which were presented in detail by the American geographer A. MacEachren in his book How Maps Work. A total of 22 respondents from three elementary schools participated in the research. The selected pupils took part in approximately fifteen-minute interviews, in which they first described what they think a map is, and then decided whether the presented visuals were maps or not, providing their reasoning for their decisions. A total of 15 visuals were presented, which were selected based on the previous analysis of the literature. The results of the research showed that the used geography textbook and the teaching style of the teacher influence how pupils perceive maps. Several basic elements according to which pupils recognize maps were derived from their answers. Among the most..