The use of cartographic games in geography lessons

The problem of the formation of cartographic skills among schoolchildren in the process of studying geography was considered. The normative and legal documents have been studied, which determine the importance of the formation of schoolchildren’ skills to work with a geographical map. School geography textbooks were analyzed for the presence of tasks for working with a geographical map. The game as a type of human activity and the didactic game as an educational activity of schoolchildren were described. The definition of a cartographic game with its features and components has been given. Examples of cartographic games developed by the authors for each course of school geography were given in this article. The methods of forming the cartographic skills of schoolchildren during the performance of tasks were described. The purpose of the article is to describe the rules, structure and tasks of cartographic games that can be conducted in different types of geography lessons to develop the skills to work with geographical maps, systematize the information received, consolidate the existing knowledge gained. Cartographic games are described (a topographic game based on the fairy tale “Geese-Swans”, a travel game “World Ocean”, a board game “Experts in Australia”, “Eurasia” based on the image of the television game “Own Game”, “Sights of Russia” and “Cities of Russia”) based on the material of various school geography courses, examples of tasks performed by schoolchildren. The results of the control work carried out after the use of cartographic games in geography lessons showed that this type of activity increases motivation to learn, contributes to the formation of cartographic literacy, improves the quality of students’ learning of new material and improves the learning of schoolchildren.