2008年台灣「國家地理知識大競賽」增闢「環境觀察能力測驗」，實施方式是提供學生測試區域的衛星影像圖，請學生依據試題給予的情境在測試區域進行現場觀察，再將觀察所得繪製成地圖。由於這些參賽作品是學生獨立作業的表現，也是理解當前中小學生對於環境觀察與地圖表達能力的素材，故本研究以探究「環境觀察能力測驗」的設計理念、測驗內容與測驗過程為主，並於賽後請另一群高中學生進行同樣的測試，以檢測競賽與非競賽之間的差異，進而透過學生所繪製的地圖瞭解其空間表達能力。研究結果呈現四個特色：(一)在所有學生所繪製的地圖，國中組作品普遍較國小組作品成熟，也較非競賽高中組為佳；(二)地圖要素的表達，被忽略比例最高者為註記，正確表達比例最高者為方位，錯誤表達比例最高者為比例尺及註記； (三)色彩的使用，植物普遍以綠色，建築物則五彩繽紛；(四)圖例的設計，國小學生多以圖畫式符號表達，國高中學生多運用幾何式符號或文字說明。
The Environmental Observation Ability Test was newly added on in the 2008 “Taiwan National Geographic Championship”. The implementation of the test includes three steps: First, the students were provided with satellite image of the test site, graph paper and test item. Second, the students made thorough observation of the environmental characteristic of the site. Then, they drew a map based on the satellite image and their observation. These maps are independent works of the students, which serve as good materials for understanding their abilities of environmental observation, map drawing and space representation. The purpose of this study was to inquire the design concepts of the test, the test contents and test process. After the contest group of students finished the test, another group of high school students were invited to take the same test for comparing the differences between the contest group and non-contest group. It is through the maps they drew that we could further understand their ability of space representation. The results of this study reveal four features: First, among all the maps the students drew, the junior high group’s are more sophisticated than those of the elementary group and non-contest senior high group. Second, the elements missing most in the representation of the maps are labels, those most precisely revealed is the orientation, and those most misrepresented are map scale and labels. Third, plants are generally colored in green whereas architectures are depicted in multiple colors. Forth, in terms of legend design, elementary students rely on painting symbols while high school students mainly use geometric symbols or verbal language.
