The Influence of Educational Ability on Cognitive Mapping Ability: A Study of School Children in Halifax, Nova Scotia

The purpose of this thesis is to find how a child’s cognitive abilities affect his cognitive map. Most of the earlier studies concentrated on socio-economic factors as the main factors affecting cognitive mapping, either ignoring cognitive ability or giving it minor consideration. This study surveyed a group of children ages 12 to 15 years in a Junior High School in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The study revealed that cognitive ability significantly affected the forms of the cognitive maps of the students, but was not a significant factor in influencing the elements placed on the cognitive maps. Children of high achievement and I.Q. affected the quality of various forms of the cognitive maps. However, more work could be done in the area of which particular factors of cognitive ability affected which aspects of cognitive mapping