Young Children's Ability to use Coordinate References

Abstract Three experiments were carried out to test the ability of 4- to 6-year-old children to use a coordinate reference system. In Experiments 1 and 2, children used a given coordinate reference to locate a place on a coordinate grid, when the grid was labelled with letters and numbers or with coloured circles, respectively. In Experiment 3, they identified the correct coordinates of a given place on the grid. When the coordinates were labelled with familiar symbols, the majority of the children performed the tasks successfully.