What
can maps tell us about our environments?
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
The first step of this lesson requires that students have
access to a variety of maps: e.g., museum maps, park maps,
subway maps, bus maps, road maps, as well as geographical
and political maps from atlases or encyclopedias. You will
need to collect as many maps as possible before you teach
the lesson. You may also want to show them maps from familiar
children's stories, such as Peter Pan and Winnie-the-Pooh.
Learning Objectives
After this lesson, students will have:
- learned about different kinds of maps and their uses
- experienced first-hand the process of making maps
- observed the relationships between maps of different scales (e.g., a world map compared to a map of the United States)
1 Explore
what students already know about maps. What is a map? Why
do people use maps? What does a map contain that makes it
a special kind of "picture"? What kinds of information are
included on maps? What kinds are left out? What types of
maps have students seen and/or used?
Divide the class into groups of 3-5 students each, and give
each group a set of maps to examine. These may include museum
maps, park maps, subway maps, bus maps, road maps, or maps
from familiar children's stories (e.g., Peter Pan or Winnie-the-Pooh),
as well as geographical and political maps from atlases or
encyclopedias. If your supply is limited, try rotating the
maps from one group to another in order to let each group
view as many different types as possible.
As you circulate from group to group, prompt students with
the following questions:
- What do you notice about this map?
- What does it show?
- What kinds of things can you see in this
"picture"?
- What can't you see?
- What makes this map similar
to another you've looked at?
- What makes it different?
- How could you use this map?
2 Having gained some initial impressions
about maps and their purposes, students will now explore
what maps can tell us about our immediate environments by
studying a "mental map" from the EDSITEment-reviewed National
Geographic Society Xpeditions website. You may share
this map with students at individual computer stations;
by assigning small groups to share a number of computers;
by means of a computer-projected image displayed to the
whole class; or by printing out the image and distributing
copies of it to students.
Click on
to see how a child might mentally map a familiar room-in this
case, the kitchen. Prompt students to take note of the details
this "child's-eye view" includes: e.g., the refrigerator,
the cereal, the cookies, the dinner table, and the child's
family. Why might the child who drew this map have chosen
to include these details?
Now have students make "mental maps" of their favorite rooms
in their own homes. As students work on their maps, circulate
among them and ask them what kinds of details they think are
important to include. Remember that the accuracy of their
maps is less important than each student's experience of externalizing,
in map form, a mental image of a space that is important to
him or her. When the maps are complete, have each student
present his or her map to another student, describing each
element of the map and explaining why it is an important part
of his or her environment.
3 Divide
the class into groups of four students each. Give each group
a large piece of poster paper, a ruler or yardstick, a pencil,
an eraser, and a set of colored pencils or markers. Tell
them that they are now going to create maps of their classroom.
Explain that one of the groups will make a map of the entire
classroom, while the other groups will make maps of smaller
areas within the room.
Before students begin, discuss what
kinds of details they might or might not need to include on
each type of map. The students who are mapping the entire
room might simply draw a square or rectangle to represent
each piece of furniture, for example, while the students who
are drawing the area maps might include subtler details, such
as important objects that are on the furniture.
Help each group to determine the area
on which their map should focus. After the maps are complete,
have each group present their map to the rest of the class,
noting the information they chose to include. As each map
is presented, discuss its boundaries: What are the limits
of the classroom? Where does each area of the classroom begin
and end? Are certain areas of the classroom designated for
specific purposes only? An understanding of boundaries will
help to prepare students for Step 4 of the lesson, in which
they will need to recognize the borders of their state, nation,
and continent in order to see how one geographical area "nests"
within another.
Finally, post the maps on a wall or
bulletin board, grouping the area maps together to form a
large map of the entire room. Again, the accuracy of the map
is less important than the students' perception that many
small maps can be put together to form one big map.
4 Students will now compare a series
of geographical maps, which can be obtained through Xpeditions.
Click
on and then select "Atlas" to access a world map. Note:
Although the maps on the website move from "big" (the world)
to "small" (individual states), you will present them to
your students in reverse order, moving from "small" to "big."
Again, you may share these maps with students at individual
computer stations; by assigning small groups to share a number
of computers; by means of a computer-projected image displayed
to the whole class; or by printing out the images and distributing
copies of them to students.
First, show students a map of their home state, which can
be accessed by selecting "North America" at the top of the
page, then selecting "United States" from the menu running
down the left-hand side of the page, and finally selecting
the name of your state from the menu running down the left-hand
side of the United States map page. Ask students if they recognize
any of the names of cities noted on the map, and have them
try to locate the city closest to where they live.
Then show students a map of the United States. Clicking on
"United States" at the top of the page will return you to
this map. Ask students how this map is different from the
previous map. What can they see on this map that they couldn't
see on the previous one? What can't they see on this map (e.g.,
the names of cities)? Can they find the location of their
home state?
Next, show students a map of North America. Clicking on "North
America" at the top of the page will return you to this map.
Again, ask students how this map is different from the previous
maps. What can they see on this map that they couldn't see
on the others? What can't they see (e.g., subtle details such
as small rivers and lakes)? Can they find their home state
on this map? Why or why not?
Finally, show students a world map. Clicking on "World" at
the top of the page will return you to this map. Once again,
ask students how this map is similar to or different from
the previous maps. What kind of information does this map
include? What kind of information does it leave out? If they
wanted to find their own location on this map, where would
they look?
5 Finally, you may show students a selection
of historical maps to give them an idea of how people long
ago drew their maps and to allow them to see how the process
of making maps has changed over time. The "Christopher
Columbus Chart" provides an example of how mapmakers
conceived of the world 500 years ago. The "Senex
Map of North America" offers a late 18th-century view
of the North American continent. Ask students why today's
maps might be different from those of long ago. What advantages
do contemporary mapmakers have that mapmakers in the past
did not?
6 To conclude the lesson, ask students
to recall the various types of maps they have viewed and
created, from large, geographical maps of the world and
its nations to small maps of the students' classroom and
home environments. What can maps can tell us about where
we live-and where we don't live? How can maps be useful
to us in our everyday lives?
Extending the Lesson
Return to the Xpeditions website and have students view another
"mental map"-a child's drawing of his route to school. Click to view the map. Then have students create their own maps of routes they travel regularly. Younger students might draw maps of the route from their classroom to the gym, the library or the cafeteria, for example, while older students might draw maps of their routes to school.
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards