The key idea of Position and Orientation at Level 2 is that position, direction and pathways can be shown on maps.
At level 2, students are developing awareness that maps are representations of places in the real world. Landmarks and other aspects of the real world are shown on the map using symbols, and the relative position of something can be described in terms of the positions of other things on the map. Maps also have their own direction vocabulary based on the four main points of the compass. So for example a river could be described as being on the northern boundary of the school, flowing west to east. Distances on a map can be generalised at this level for example its about twice as far from Mere’s house to school as it is from Hana’s. Laying a grid over a map, allows easy reference to the position of something, for example the mountain located at grid reference E3. Drawing maps of known places from memory helps students to develop spatial awareness and reasoning at this level.
This key idea develops from the key idea of position and orientation at level 1 where the focus is on the use of everyday language to describe position and give instructions for movement.
This key idea is extended in the key idea of position and orientation at level 3 where more sophisticated coordinate systems are used to describe position, orientation and pathways.