Lesson #9 Lesson designed by Stefan Superina Grades: 6-8 Content Focus: a) Evaluate the relative merits of maps and other geographic representations, tools and technologies in terms of their value in solving geographic problems. Lesson Plan: This will be an introductory lesson for students to learn about our trip based upon studying maps of the route, gaining an understanding and appreciation for the importance of maps to our trip and our ability to select a route while comprehending the geographic representations on a given map. By the end of this lesson, students will have a better understanding of mapping techniques and strategies through a study into our expedition. They will be able to mark major landforms and climate regions on a map.
Coppermine Expedition 2012 Route Map (Designed by Seth Wotten)
Lesson Instructions: 1. If the teacher so desires, they may show the expedition movie to the class at: www.coppermine2012.com 2. After you are done showing the movie, project the map on the previous page onto a whiteboard. This is an expedition map showing our fifty-day route from Yellowknife to Kugluktuk on the orange line. 3. Ask your students for their general observations of the map. Do they think this is the only map we took on trip with us? Why or why not? (answer is no - we had many more maps with more detail and smaller scale) Do your students think that this map shows every single detail of the land? What could it be possibly missing? What are the black lines going across and up and down the map? (longitude and latitude) Is this map missing anything? (compass, scale, title, legend, etc.) These are questions that will get your students thinking more about maps. 4. On the following pages are nine individual route maps of our expedition. For the purpose of this lesson, it is best that the teacher print out each route map and laminate them individually. For best results, blow each map up until it fits a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper. The lamination will allow for the preservation of the maps for future lesson plans and for the students to correct their work as they go along. 5. Divide the class into nine groups and hand out one of the nine different route maps to each group. 6. Instruct them to do the following: a) Place the cardinal directional arrows in the top right corner of their map. b) Ask them to plot the longitude and latitude of three landmarks on their maps. This can be a city, lake, river, mine, etc. Please direct them to the following site to conduct this research: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/latitude_and_longitude_finder.htm For example, if I were to find Reliance on Route Map #2, I d plug it into the Latitude and Longitude finder and come up with coordinates: 62 42' N / 109 7' W. c) When your students have completed task b), have them write down three significant points on each landmark they have chosen to find. For example, if a group were to select Lac De Gras, they could write that: 1) The Ekati Diamond Mine is located there, 2) It is the primary lake that feeds the Coppermine River at its source, and 3) It is an important point for the migration of the Bathurst Caribou herd from their winter calving grounds. d) Have each group create a legend for their map based upon what they see. For example, what do they think the black dotted line is running up from the bottom of Route Map #3? Each group will likely create very different legends for their own maps, which will make for an interesting culminating task. e) Have each group find three pictures of the terrain characterized by the type of climate region the expedition travelled through. Follow this link for assistance with this task: http:// www.canadiangeographic.ca/atlas/intro.aspx?lang=en#. Students may also use pictures from the expedition website: www.coppermine2012.com. Have them write down descriptions of the terrain with each accompanying picture. 7. Once all of these tasks are done, have the groups present their map to the class, in sequence from Route Map 1 through Route Map 9. Construct the route map at the front of the class
piece by piece. This should give the class a better insight into the varied terrain the expedition travelled through en route to Kugluktuk, Nunavut.
Route Map 1
Route Map 2
Route Map 3
Route Map 4
Route Map 5
Route Map 6
Route Map 7
Route Map 8
Route Map 9