MiniMapathon - Mapping the world at 10 years old

This paper presents the learning experience and outcomes of “MiniMapathon”, a cooperative humanitarian mapping event tried out for the first time with almost 250 children from primary school. The paper consists of an introduction on humanitarian mapathons, a description of the educational experiment held at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and, finally, an analysis of the emerging data. Humanitarian mapathons or mapping parties consist of coordinated mapping events which convene volunteers to create digital maps of vulnerable places through the OpenStreetMap (OSM) platform. The experience was adapted to children by the researchers of two labs of Politecnico di Milano, GEOlab (Geomatics and Earth Observation laboratory), having a considerable know-how in mapping, and HOC-Lab (Hypermedia Open Center Laboratory), with a remarkable expertise in the field of educational technology, and in cooperation with HOT (Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team) and Missing Maps, two NGOs coordinating humanitarian mapping projects worldwide. The MiniMapathon was designed according to pedagogical theories, with the motivation to improve - while enjoying mapping - the students’ knowledge of the places they were mapping, their attitude towards Geography and, finally, their technological skills. The evaluation of the initiative was carried out by interviewing teachers and by collecting the students’ feedback using a survey. In conclusion, the paper points out the will to propose the “MiniMapathon” as an educational model within the study curriculum of primary schools, in order to investigate and deepen its learning potential and turn the experience into an easily exportable and repeatable activity in Italy and even abroad.