Contour map

Contour maps are usually intended for use by schoolchildren and are issued complete with a school atlas and school textbook; they are coordinated with them in terms of scale, projection, and density of the cartographic grid. Dumb and punctual cards also stand out. Contour maps are also used in high school (based on them, maps are compiled to show the relationship of phenomena and processes) ^[4] . Work on contour maps makes it possible to better remember information, develop attention and logic. They contribute to the memorization of cartographic content. Making a contour map requires accuracy and accuracy, following a number of rules. In the USSR, a methodology for the work of students with contour maps was developed in detail ^[5] . Among the rules ^[6] :

• Filling at the request of the teacher.
• Before starting work, consider that the inscriptions and signs do not interfere with each other.
• Use of colored pencils, not felt-tip pens . Painting even pale color.
• Write with a ballpoint pen or pen. The borders and directions of the campaigns are indicated by a brighter and darker color in comparison with the coloring of the territory of the states.
• Symbols should correspond to each task.
• When completing assignments, refer to the corresponding atlas maps and the textbook.

There are also wall contour maps, which are called induction. They are used to explain the new material to the teacher and instruct students on how to perform tasks on contour maps. They are published on a special synthetic basis, this allows, using special markers, to draw tasks on such a contour map. Markings with a marker are easily removed from the surface, so it can be used again ^[7] . Books on teaching methods in high schools published in the 1960s suggested that the teacher himself produce such cards. Linoleum or a dark-colored oilcloth were offered as base materials. On a sheet of at least 1.5 X 1 meter in size white outlines should have been applied. Temporary images were proposed to be applied using colored crayons or using blanks- applications from pieces of dense colored paper of a certain shape, attached with buttons. It was recommended to have several similar cards of various contents in the office ^[8] .

Contour cards are also used in work with students, however, it passes through cards designed for secondary school or created by university teachers to conduct classes with their students. Large publishers do not issue outline maps for higher education institutions ^{[9] [10]} .

In the 20s of the XIX century, the predecessors of modern contour maps first appeared in Russian educational cartography. However, such publications were not of a mass nature, therefore, some educational historians dealing with this problem (A. Likarchuk, L. I. Nechvolod, A. A. Nilson) do not consider it necessary to consider them as educational contour maps. They were called “silent maps” ( lat. Carta geografica muta ^[11] ), were educational geographical maps without naming names that needed to be written by hand ^[12] .

The first such collection was the "Educational Atlas, consisting of silent geographical maps" (it was published in St. Petersburg in 1829). At the end of the preface to the atlas it was stated: “These sheets were compiled by a researcher P. Maksimovich who is at the Main Engineering School ...”. Maksimovich Pavel Petrovich was a district inspector of the St. Petersburg educational district, a member of the Scientific Committee of the Ministry of Education ^[13] . In the “Geographical Sheets” to this atlas it was cautiously indicated that Maksimovich placed “only those objects that seemed to be decent to the School Authorities when teaching Geography” ^[14] . In 2013, this collection was one of the main exhibits at the exhibition “From the History of Russian Educational Cartography ” ( Russian State Library , Pashkov House , reading room of the Department of Cartographic Publications) ^[15] .

Educational cartography was developed at the beginning of the 20th century, when along with the widespread use of wall maps, “atlases-notebooks” were published, which included silent maps ^[16] . Despite this, at the beginning of the 20th century, especially in the provinces, contour maps were still perceived with disbelief by the students. This is discussed in the novel by Yakub Kolas "On the lands", which takes place on the eve of the First Russian Revolution . A young teacher, Andrei Lobanovich, who has just graduated from a teacher's seminary , arrives in a remote village. Lobanovich is trying to go beyond the curriculum. He wants to make his students think, hoping that this will change their life. Here he encounters serious difficulties, among which are the sharply negative perception of contour maps by students:

“The students of the Verkhan school were frightened by a mute geographical map - they never had one like that. Minich spoke on behalf of his comrades, declaring that the dumb card was unfamiliar to them and that it could damage them in a geography exam. Teachers of other schools approved Lobanovich’s act, and that was the end of the dumb card deal. ”

- Jakub Kolas. In the countryside ^[17]

Contour maps were widely used in the Soviet period, especially after the Great Patriotic War . An important role in their popularization was played by A. I. Strazhev's article “Locality in the study of history. Work with a historical map in the classroom and at home ”, published in the journal “ Teaching History at School ” ^[18] .

The problem of using contour maps in teaching history and methods of working with it was subsequently raised in the scientific works of Goder G.I., Vorozheykina M.V., Studenikina M.T., Vagina A.A., in teaching geography - in articles by T. Kovalenko. B. ^[19] . A series of articles on this issue was published by Bogdanova AA ^{[20] [21] [22]} . A monograph on the use of a contour map in the process of teaching geography was dedicated by V. A. Zhuchkevich ^[23] . A methodology was developed for working with a contour map for the blind ^[24] and in a correctional school ^[25] .

By the beginning of the 1990s, contour maps in the consciousness of the layman began to be identified with the work of a teacher of history and geography. The editor-in-chief of the Echo of Moscow radio station, Alexei Venediktov, talks about this time when he combined the work of a teacher and a journalist:

“I remember such a brilliant story. They called me with other reporters to Yeltsin , we came to him, but he is not, he is late. We are sitting waiting ... And I have fifth grade, Greek wars, contour maps, we must check - tomorrow the topic closes. I take these cards out of my portfolio and start checking them with a red pencil. The people are getting hardened! And the journalists, who also came to Yeltsin, got bored and said: give them to us too, we will check! I won’t give you, you don’t know a damn thing, but this is all the mark. And you give us a quintuple, and we are on the patterns. Right! He handed out the cards ... And then Boris Nikolayevich came, looking, and the people were sitting and correcting the cards with red pencils. He asks: "Is that shaw?" Right now, Boris Nikolayevich, 9 pieces are left "

- Alexey Venediktov: I am Athos from “The Three Musketeers” (while maintaining the original spelling) ^[26]

At present, there is a cautious and sometimes persistent doubt about the usefulness of the traditional approach to the implementation of contour maps ^[27] . Opponents of using contour maps in the educational process give the following arguments:

“... the benefits of routine exercises with a contour map (“ find ... ”,“ sign ... ”,“ apply ... ”) are debatable. They train only observation and visual memory (and rather, they do not train, but check, control), and in this sense they no more contribute to the development of a young man than recognizing by touch the caught partner when playing blind man's glasses. A contour map is a tool for learning and controlling the curvature of a real map. Working with a contour map does not aim at the development of the actual geographic worldview, spatial thinking, understanding of the map and real territory. ”

- Rogachev S.V. Russian Space: A Lesson in Understanding the Map ^[28]

Electronic blank maps and atlases appeared combining the properties of a contour map, animation, and multimedia tools, which have not yet been widely used in high school. Studies in the field of multimedia blank cartography are: Lisitsky D. V., Komissarova E. V., Vilkov A. Yu., Katsko S. Yu. ^[29]

Outline maps sometimes got quite an unusual use. Thus, school contour maps were used in the activities of the USSR security agencies in the 60–70s. When Soviet citizens were sent abroad with sufficiently free movement through the territory of the capitalist state, they were sometimes given a similar map painted in various colors, where the shade of color reflected spaces that were undesirable for visiting ^[30] .

Performing (especially flawless) outline maps was used in fiction to characterize personality traits of characters. So in the novel of the Australian writer Gordon Rhys “Mice” ( Eng. “Allen and Unwin” , 2010), the evolution of the personality of two women, “gray mice” by their nature, which suddenly become decisive and cruel when their life is threatened, is traced. The writer uses the topic of flawlessly filling out contour maps as a characteristic of the conscientious attitude of the heroine to study (“they painted contour maps as if it were the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel ” ^[31] ).

• Akhiev S. N., Savinov A. A., Churekova N. B. Methodological recommendations for working with contour maps on the history of Ancient Rome. - Saratov, 2013 .-- 17 p.
• Vagin A. A. Methods of teaching history in high school. The doctrine of methods. Theory of the lesson. - M: Enlightenment, 1968 .-- 434 p. - 100,000 copies.
• Georgievskaya O. I. From experience in geography with contour maps (with some abbreviations) // Matters of pedagogy. Ed. Corr. APN RSFSR B. I. Kovalenko .. - Tyumen: Publishing House of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the RSFSR, 1955.
• Outline map // Geography. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. Edited by prof. A.P. Gorkin. - M: Rosman-Press, 2006 .-- 624 p. - (Modern Illustrated Encyclopedia).
• Gusev A. I., Polnikova E. N. Methods of teaching geography: a teaching complex (for students enrolled in specialty 020401 "Geography"). - Gorno-Altaisk: RIO GAGU, 2010. - 110 p.
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• Koshcheeva G. S. Cartography with the basics of topography. Training and metodology complex. - Tyumen: Tyumen State University, 2016 .-- 45 p.
• Petrova L.V. Methods of teaching history in a special (correctional) school of the VIII type: a manual for students of higher educational institutions. - M: Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS, 2003. - 208 p.
• Simakova O. A. Work with conditionally graphic materials as a form of independent work of students-historians // Materials of the international scientific-practical conference. Minsk, BSU, November 16–17, 2006: Collection. - 2006. - S. 55-60 .
• Fesich R.V. History of the introduction of workbooks as a means of forming professional competencies in students . - Professional education: theory, practice, innovation. - 2016.
• Fokina L. A. Chapter 7. System of cartographic works for education // Cartography with the basics of topography. - M: Humanitarian Publishing Center VLADOS, 2005. - 355 p. - ISBN 5-691-01433-1 .