From where do I see the world? A learning activity with mental world maps

The contribution aims to share a teaching experience centred on the drawing of mental maps of the world in order to stimulate students to reflect on the relationship between map-geography-imagery and reveal the taken-for-granted spatial ordering on which they are constructed. The relationship between maps and imagery has long been debated from both cartographical and geographical perspectives, opening interesting didactic directions for making students responsible for their own geographic imagination in a conscious manner. In particular, this research draws from a world mapping exercise attended by university students during a human geography course for the master degree in Local Development at the University of Padua (Italy). Focusing on the students’ sketched world maps and the following steps of individual and collective debriefing, a deductive process is employed to illustrate mapping practices as a learning tool capable of visually developing a critical and situated geographical knowledge. The approach used could be adopted with groups of different ages and in various courses.