keepitsafe

I shared this map of India with 5 children (aged between 8- 13 years) and got them to annotate copies of the map. I have included here some of the top comments that came through.   Their comments just go to prove how iconography can alter the visual experience of a map. This map is a visual OD, but the kids just lapped it up and saw so much in it.  I chose a foreign language India map just to see how they react to the language of the map, the imagery was what was noticed most. They complained about lack of it too in many places, like the lack of forests and boundaries.  I concluded after this meeting that maps are visual stories. They are powerful visual aids that communicate. Maps indeed make thinking visible !!!  Look at what they children had to say -  Next, I will engage the kids in a See Think Wonder on the maps the experts used the thinking tools on.  Post which I am going to make some maps myself with all my findings. This is turning really interesti...

This post is a video I put together of my interviews around maps. In this discussion we dissect the ideas of iconography in maps and how big a role it plays in making maps effective visual tools. We studied three maps and compared for various aspects like - Iconography, Directional/ Navigational usability, Information on geographical features, Clarity, Cultural Information . This is the final post ( for some time) of my interactions with the experts at Mapbox, till I meet them again with my findings. The next phase of my study will engage children to study maps and use thinking tools to understand the effectiveness of maps.  By the end of these interactions, I hope to have a holistic view of what experts and children see differently/ alike in maps. It is based on these inputs that I will begin on my proposal/ research document.  In the course of my data collection, I have found value in researching beyond the internet. Meeting actual people and engaging in planned in...

Rasagya is a Map Designer at Mapbox, this means he is the one who ascertains the way map should look, feel and speak. What better person to get to access the maps I made! ( I did not reveal to him though that these maps were my creations, lest he felt pressurised to be nice to me!) I used See, Think, Wonder on these maps too. The idea being, if maps speak to you at first glance, what are they saying? As stated in my previous post the other reasons for using this See, Think, Wonder was to ascertain - If these maps are effective as visual aids for the purpose they are designed for (awareness of one's neighbourhood in this case)  What are the possible interventions to improve them?  What are good practices in these maps that can be used as future references?  What works for and against these maps as visual aids. We started off by colour coding our paper as Blue = See. Yellow  = Think. Pink = Wonder.  Here is a picture of Rasagya studying my maps.  What he sa...

Every map is a story that visually speaks each time we look at it. I engaged with this thought in my last post. When I began to approach maps as visual tools, I started spending more time thinking about how this powerful visual tool can be used in an engaging manner in learning. As my area of study is - ‘How can maps be used as thinking and learning tools’. I decided to explore the first impressions of my chosen maps (discussed in the previous post). Arun and Upendra, two Senior map designers at Mapbox engaged with the learning tool See, Think, Wonder, to unfold the various signs and symbols on the two maps - Political Map of India  Tata Airline Map  The reason for using this See,Think,Wonder was to ascertain - What do these maps convey at first glance?  If these maps are effective as visual aids for the purpose they are designed for.  What are the possible interventions to improve them.  What are good practices in these maps that can be used as future reference...

I chose 4 maps to study as part of the research process with the wonderful team at Mapbox, Bangalore.Arun, Upendra & Rasagya, where more than willing partners in this process. Their love for maps and cartography was visible all the time! We could talk maps for a good 4 hours, and not be bored. I will definitely be visiting them again soon. How I researched my sample maps. 1) Political Map of India. A map of the sort that I remember from my Geography book in school. It would be unfair to compare this map though, as a Political map has very clear requirements. However, I felt this Map has many things missing, and thought it would be interesting to get an expert opinion on it. The maps were chosen after much deliberation. After repeated failed searches on the Internet, I found that most maps for children use iconography, are too crowded or are too simplistic. There was never a perfect map. But many maps had elements that worked well. As the study is about what makes a perfect map fo...

Maps are stories. Don't you think? One look at a map and it can speak. There can be a map for every possible thought.  Beyond the political and physical map, there could be maps of animals, vegetation, cultures, textiles, landscapes, languages, roads, air paths, rail, minerals, fossils roads, and an endless list of other things!  Can I then conclude that a map is a number of ideas put together in a singular visual format?  I worked on a Flower Map as a thinking tool to see what comes to mind when one thinks of the word map, and how it connects diverse thoughts. My very interesting meeting with the Mapbox team in Bangalore will be my next post and I can't wait to share all the fascinating stuff we discussed and discovered. 

It was Dusherra vacation and we were in my hometown. The generous rains had turned the garden into a blanket of green. In a basket by the veranda, lay marbles both flat and round, a memory of the games the children played the previous evening. I ran my hands through the basket and the marbles glided through my palm, clinking, making that pleasant sound of glass as it tinkles.  With no planned motive I began to pull out the marbles and arrange them into a pattern on the ground. I began with one small 5 petals flower and then the pattern kept growing. As I was engrossed in this activity, my daughter walked up in curiosity and asked if she could join, so the both us began to create together. It was at this point I felt that I should photo document this process. Sadly I don't have pictures of how the marbles came together in its first moments.  As we began making the pattern many things began to happen-  My collaborator wanted all the flat blue marbles for herself  With ...

My woodworking workshop is a place full of action and excitement. There is much happening and projects and ideas run wild at all times. But The Craft Caravan believes that the core of all learning needs to be one of deeper meaning, of building relationships and respect for tools and learning to view making by hand as an act of deep focus. Sadly for us, the woodworking classes are intermittent ( twice a month) it becomes important for keeping the memory of the freedom in making alive. To aid this need, I indulge in reflective journalling is an activity that is undertaken by each class.  Reflective learning is such a useful metacognitive tool. When students become reflective about the teaching and learning process, they are strengthening their own capacity to learn. Through reflection, students are aware of and can describe their thinking in a way that allows them to "close the gap" between what they know and what they need to learn. I think this process goes a long way in allo...

Finally, a meeting with the MapBox has come through, after many followups, I am hoping to meet them this weekend.  But before I go up there armed with my set of questions, I decided to experiment with the idea of maps with my 6-year-old. I designed an activity, to map our home. My intention was to ascertain how a child relates to her living space, how she navigates it and most importantly how much of this navigation is a visual memory.  Activity -  Draw a map of the rooms in your home.  Include walls, windows, doors and the primary piece of furniture.  Build on various parts of the house using the map. Try to position the doors, windows and furniture with accuracy.  Label various parts of the map. Follow-up -  Expand the map to include the neighbourhood and streets.  To be able to place the position our house as a part of a larger neighbourhood.  Locate and explore neighbourhood armed with a hand-drawn map.  I believe that mapping on...