Towards an Evaluation of the Spatial Literacy

Where is the main character of the story? What objects are around him? These questions can emerge in the minds of readers led to read a passage containing a description of the place, the environment. These different questions call for spatial notions that are often useful in the global understanding of history and in the ability to project oneself into it. There is no tool to evaluate this concept of spatial literacy, defined by Moore-Russo et al. (2013) like 3 domains: vizualisation, reasoning about the relationship and communication of spatial object, necessary for understanding these elements. In this research, a protocol inspired by Gallina and Lautrey (2000) is used to evaluate spatial literacy. This protocol contains different steps: proofs of memory and drawing (sort by categories according to the general shape of the drawing, number of landmarks and their order), true or false and multiple choice questionnaires. The experiment was conducted on a group of 67 children aged between 8 and 12 years (m = 9,76 ; σ = 1,19), belonging to the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grades. The main result is that the comprehension ability of a text, which was evaluated via the L4 subtest of the ORLEC, correlates with the quality of the drawing produced to represent the course and plan that are described in the story. This correlation between the graphic proof and the ability to understand allows us to providing clues for the development of a tool to assess spatial literacy.