Questions / instructions:
I would like you to draw me a quick sketch map of New Zealand. Don't worry too much about your drawing, I would just like a quick outline of the map which shows the shape of New Zealand's 3 main islands.
Give student a pencil. Allow student time to draw map.

1. On your map, put a cross to show the town or city where you live or the one which is closest to where you live. Write down the name of the town or city beside the cross.

Check and if necessary help the student with the spelling of the place name.

Map of NZ drawn:

3 main islands
2 main islands
other

Proportions:

about right
North Island too large
South Island too large
not applicable

Shape and relative positions of islands:

approximately correct
good attempt but problems
little resemblence
not applicable

Placement of home town or city on map:

general area in correct island
correct island, but wildly misplaced
inappropriate
not applicable

Turn the page to show the map of the world.

2. Here is a map of the world. Draw a ring around New Zealand.

Show the student the list of places, and give them the marker pen.

3. Now I want you to write the numbers on the map to show where the places that are written on this list. I'll read you the numbers and place names, and you write the numbers where you think they should go on the map.

Commentary:
The first part of this task looked at students' abilities to represent the general configuration of the map of New Zealand by drawing a sketch map unaided, followed by marking their own home town or city on their map. The large majority of year 8 students scored well whereas about half of year 4 students showed comparable skill. The second part of the task investigated student knowledge of locations of selected continents, oceans and countries on a world map. Large numbers of students at both levels had difficulty identifying many of the places listed.