Spatial Orientation, Geomedia and Learning: The design of a Comparative Empirical Study

Strongly connected to the change in key media from the “Gutenberg-Galaxy” to the “Internet-Galaxy” is also the hope, to break new ground and more successful ways within competence building in the area of spatial orientation. This paper deals with two questions: Which influence on competence building in the area of spatial orientation does the different identification and collecting possibilities within the work with digital geomedia have compared to the traditional work with paper maps? Furthermore, the study is concerned with the influence of different work instructions for the pupils on the learning environment. By means of an interdisciplinary study combining the two fields of mathematics and geography, these questions will be addressed. The empirical research, which the study is based on, has been conducted with four fifth-grade classes of a comprehension school in buildings of the University of Koblenz-Landau. In this contribution, the subject specific background and the test design of the study will be explained as well as the first results presented. These points to some differences of the competence building process between the work with digital media and the work with paper maps.