maps

[Anonymous]

My kids know that to get me off topic they just have to get me to pull down the map or bring forward a globe. They love to have that power.

I make a point of telling them the maps and globes are not real, that they're all made to show what we think we know and what we want others to think they know. And there's lots of room for mistakes and deception in that. Representations of reality are not reality.

I like to start with globes first, have them spend time looking at the land masses and bodies of water. Then I pull down the map and ask them to find differences between the items on the 2 representations. They love Greenland and Antarctica with all their distortion and the fact that the Pacific is chopped in two on our wall map. We draw some shapes on a play ground ball and then, and very dramatically, I brutally puncture it with my teacher's scissors. They all gasp, and then get on board with trying to make it flat. Eventually, using magnets on the white board, we put up our flattened (hardly) ball and connect the shapes that have been cut apart. I tell them that's what cartographers do when they make flat representations of our spherical world.

During reading I have a map, globe, and atlas center where they might find certain information, trace entities, make a pictionary of geographical features, or just get to do sustained silent reading of a map. They seem to enjoy that; the reading of place names is accessible to them and because we then go to google earth they get to see what the places look like, too. The legends on different types of map become associated with the elevations and vegetation they actually see.

[Anonymous]

The China population pdf file is a potent graphic depiction of a simple but important point: China's principal centers of population are in the east from the shores of their seas inland to the wastes of the Gobi Desert and the western half of the country. I would use this map for an introduction to Chinese demographics.

[Anonymous]

These maps are very useful to get students to relate China with geographic locations and sizes that they are sued to. As said above, they are also useful to show the uneven population location in China and highlight some of the pollution and water issues that China faces today.

[Anonymous]

The use of maps in our sessions yesterday and looking through the ones posted has made me realize how little I use them and how important they are when setting up context and background. While I was looking through the website resources, I clicked on a website someone had found previously: http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/ It fits all sorts of countries into other countries and gives some interesting facts on each place. There are so many useful resources it's a bit overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

@lchisolm - Awesome website!

[Anonymous]

http://www.ifitweremyhome.com is an great site Lyla. I will use this in my class. Thanks

[Anonymous]

As we all know, learning to read is also about learning to read charts and maps, so during a unit, "Survival," we examine a map of our area and pay close attention to the earthquake fault which runs through the middle of Desert Hot Springs. We then look at charts which show recent earthquakes and their sizes. We also look at hiking maps and take a field trip to the Morongo Basin where students have the opportunity to follow one of the maps during a short hike. We also examine survival techniques - what is most important to survival in a disaster. Then we engage in a simulation of a natural disaster in the area - students are hiking and there is a major earthquake. Students determine from their supplies which is most important to their survival and on a course of action. I think this would be a great unit for integration of the maps of Asia and perhaps discuss earthquakes and water in these regions. As mentioned earlier, I love the superimposed maps to give students an idea of the area by connecting to previous knowledge. Also, using current events - earthquake and devastation - for this unit would be great.

[clay dube]

In this section, we provide maps that you can download and use with your students. Please take a moment to write a bit about how you integrate (or don't) geography in your classes. How do your students respond to these approaches? Do they get a sense of the importance of place? How setting matters?

As you likely know, geography isn't a strong subject for many of us. Here are some geography standards:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/geography/achieveall.aspx

Here are the results of a large scale survey of students in 2010:
http://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/commissioner/remarks2011/07_19_2011.asp The test had been given before in 1994 and 2001. At the 8th and 12th grade levels, the mean score hadn't changed much over the 16 years. 4th graders, though, scored slightly better.

Here is information about a 2006 survey:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/0502_060502_geography.html
The headline, "Young Americans Geographically Illiterate," gives the key finding.

[Anonymous]

P.S. Loved the idea of using Google Earth or Maps to teach students about regions - especially since next year I will have a cart of iPads. Thanks to whoever mentioned this.

[Author]

Posts