S. Jones∗ and G.E. Burnett∗
Hypertext, spatial skills, cognitive maps, children
Individuals with high spatial ability appear to demonstrate superior navigational skills within hypertext, completing tasks more quickly and with fewer errors than those with low spatial ability. They tend to form more accurate internal representations, or cognitive maps, of hypertext systems that correspond better to the underlying physical structure. Little research has been carried out on children to assess their formation of cognitive maps of hyperspace, or comparing children with adults. In this study, 32 children (aged 10–11 years) and 15 adults (aged 23–35 years) were given search tasks to complete on an environmental website. Measures were made of their navigational efficiency, degree of lostness and ability to construct a map of the routes they had traversed. In both age groups, spatial ability was positively correlated with successful map completion, and in the younger cohort, those with higher spatial ability completed the tasks in shorter time and became lost less frequently. This paper discusses the differences in the results between the adults and children, and the implications of these results to the success of hypertext learning environments for learners with low spatial ability.
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