Mapping Our Worlds

Lindsay SchulzEduc 357.0029/9/09

Mapping Our Worlds

Social Studies Standard 3: Geography Indicator K.3.2

◦ Identify maps and globes as ways of representing Earth and understand the basic difference between a map and globe.

Taken From:◦ http://dc.doe.in.gov/Standards/AcademicStandards/

StandardSearch.aspx

Link to Activity:◦ http://

edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=329

DefinitionsMap - a representation, usually on a flat

surface, as of the features of an area of the earth or a portion of the heavens, showing them in their respective forms, sizes, and relationships according to some convention of representation: a map of Canada.

Globe – a sphere on which is depicted a map of the earth

Atlas – a bound collection of maps

Taken From: www.dictionary.com

Background Information“The first appearance of a map of

America is a Ptolemy atlas occurred in the 1513 Strasbourg edition, which included a series of new maps, based on findings from recent European explorations. Martin Waldseemuller of St. Die began work on this new edition of Ptolemy about 1505 and compiled the maps. In this work, America remains named Terra Incognita and Columbus is credited with informing Fernando and Isabel of its existence.”

Taken from: http://www.1worldglobes.com/History/historyofmaps.htm

What is a Map? Opening Questions

First ask the students a series of questions for a sense of previous knowledge:◦What are maps? And how are they

used?◦What are the purposes of different

kinds of maps?

Different Maps Divide the students into groups of 3-5. Distribute different kinds of maps such as the following:

◦ Park maps◦ Museum maps◦ Subway maps◦ Road maps

Have students look at the maps and pick out a few details of the maps such as the following:◦ Symbols◦ Map key

Have the students present their maps to the class and the few things that they noticed or did not notice on their maps.

Mental Maps Show students the picture of a “Child’s – Eye – View”

of a kitchen. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/hall/1/x2/c-room.html

Talk about the picture with the students. Ask why this student may have picked the cookie jar to draw or the cereal cabinet.

Then have students draw their own “mental map” of their favorite room.

Students will then present their “mental maps” to the class.

Classroom MapsStudents will then divide into groups

of 4-5 to create a map of the classroom.

One group will be in charge of mapping the entire classroom, while each of the other groups will be assigned certain parts of the room.

Put together, they should equal the entire classroom.

Part to Whole After the students have created their classroom maps,

the teacher will illustrate how those maps relate to actual maps.

First, students will be shown a map of Indiana. Have the students find different cities on the map.

Second, a map of the United States is shown. Have the students find Indiana on the map.

Third, a map of North America. Have the students find the United States on the map.

And finally, a World map is shown. Have the students find North America and even the United States.

Part to WholeFor each part of the World Map have

the students decide what is different from the shown map to the previous map.

Show the relationship of each map to each other.

This activity is supposed to go from small to large, but it could easily go from large to small. It could be even taken into county and city.

Activity ConclusionEnd the activity by having

students identify maps they have looked at throughout this activity. Including small maps of their home environment to large geographical maps.

Students could also look through several books on maps and drawing maps. Such as Maps and Plans by Pam Robson.

Resourceswww.dictionary.comhttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditio

ns/

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/resources/ngo/education/xpeditions/atlas/

http://www.1worldglobes.com/History/historyofmaps.htm

Maps and Plans by Pam Robson