What Makes a Map? OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES This lesson introduces students to maps and mapmaking and may be adapted for different age groups. It uses several materials and methods to help students become comfortable and interested in cartography. Students will learn that the mapmaker does not have to be artistic or mathematical in order to create and read maps. Students will be able to... Critically examine and evaluate a map, its maker, and the time period. Identify and construct maps with TODALSS Incorporate spatial information on a map GRADES 4 th 8 th TIME 2-3 classes REQUIRED MATERIALS ü Several sheets of blank (unlined) paper for each of 3 groups ü Colored pencils ü Handout: What Do You See? ü Power Point: What Do You See? MINNESOTA SOCIAL STUDIES STANDARDS & BENCHMARKS Minnesota Social Studies Standards Standard 1. People use geographic representations and geospatial technologies to acquire, process and report information within a spatial context. 4.3.1.1.1 Create and use various kinds of maps, including overlaying thematic maps, of places in the United States, and also Canada or Mexico; incorporate the TODALS map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information. 5.3.1.1.1 Create and use various kinds of maps, including overlaying thematic maps, of places in the North American colonies; incorporate the TODALS map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information. 6.3.1.1.1 Create and use various kinds of maps, including overlaying thematic maps, of places in Minnesota; incorporate the TODALSS map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information. 7.3.1.1.1 Create and use various kinds of maps, including overlaying thematic maps, of places in the United States; incorporate the TODALSS map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information. 8.3.1.1.2 Create and use various kinds of maps, including overlaying thematic maps, of places in the world; incorporate the TODALSS map basics, as well as points, lines and colored areas to display spatial information. Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education - Czech 1
SUGGESTED PROCEDURE Opening: Start the first day with the power point, What Do You See? and the handout, What Do You See? Ask students to observe the first 7 images and write what they think they are seeing name that object. At this point it is all right for students to interact with one another, but they cannot ask the teacher what is it? As the images are progressing ask questions of the whole class: From what do you think it s made? From what country do you think it came? When do you think it was created? Why do you think it was created? After you have gone through the images, tell the students that all of the images are in fact MAPS! Complete the power point, explaining each map briefly. Have a short discussion of how each map could have been used and how effective they would have been to those using them. Continue the short discussion asking: What is a map? What are its characteristics? Development: With the ensuing discussion on the efficacy of the maps they have seen, guide the discussion towards who can make maps? and what makes an effective map? Show the last slide of the power point and ask the students to discuss what they see in the Coronelli map. Ask students: What questions does this map answer? What questions does this map raise? Specifically, find the mountains and ask students what they think of this particular map feature. With the information they know and the maps they have seen, students will now become mapmakers. Split the class into three equal parts one group will stay in the classroom, one group will walk the halls of the school, and one group will walk the outside of the school building. These three groups will all be asked to make maps of the school. These maps should be as detailed as they can make them based on the information they can gather. The group inside the classroom may need some prompting with drawing the largest rooms first, where the entrances are, or where things are located in relation to the classroom. The group inside the school may need help with the sizes of things and their scale, but counting off by steps may help them. The group on the outside of the building may find it easier to look at the windows to determine where they are around the school. Each group will create one set of maps of the school with TODALSS. Once all three sets of maps are completed with TODALSS, hang them on the wall and have students observe the maps for several minutes (up close, far away, every angle). Then have students answer the same questions from the Coronelli map: What questions does this map answer? What questions does this map raise? Students will then make brief written comparisons between their map from inside the classroom and the Babylonian World Map, between the map from the hallways of the school and the Coronelli map, and between the map from outside the building and the Amerique Centrale Map. Discuss the comparisons identifying similarities and differences among maps including inferences about the map, the mapmaker, the time period, and the composition. Discuss with students: Why is mapmaking vitally important to understand places? Closing: Students complete an Exit Card answering the questions: What is a map? What are its characteristics? Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education - Czech 2
Assessment School maps Map comparisons Exit card Website Resources Babylonian World Map, British Museum, London at Travel To Eat https://traveltoeat.com/babylonian-world-map-british-museum-london/ Sumerian Star Map at MessageToEagle http://www.messagetoeagle.com/controversial-5500-year-old-sumerian-star-map-of-ancientnineveh-reveals-observation-of-kofels-impact-event/ Pingjang tu at Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/maps/?fa=location%3achina&dates=1220-1229 Hereford Mappa Mundi at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hereford_mappa_mundi Asiento present hordenat a payon les responsions dels pezos e mezures: delahun boch al alter de tots los presents bochs nnomenats los quals son cap e regiment de las mercadoria hordenat at Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/maps/?dates=1560-1569 L Amerique centr[ale] at Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/item/2004626118/ Air Pollution Map at YourClassical http://www.yourclassical.org/story/2014/04/15/air-pollution-disparities Partie Occidentale du Canada at Hazel & Wren http://www.hazelandwren.com/2013/three-things-special-great-lakes-map-edition/ Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education - Czech 3
What Do You See? Directions: Complete the chart by answering the following questions for each image: From what do you think it s made? From what country do you think it came? When do you think it was created? Why do you think it was created? Image Composition Country Origin Time Period Why It Was Created 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education - Czech 4
What Do You See?
Babylonian World Map 600 BCE Mesopotamia (Iraq) Clay tablet Star shaped (imperialism?)
Sumerian Star Map 700 BCE Mesopotamia (Iraq) Clay tablet Naming known constellagons
Chinese Stone Rubbing 1229 CE China Rubbing from carved stone tablet Civil engineering, roads, canals
Hereford Map 1300 CE England Single sheet of vellum World with Jerusalem in center T O style
DiagrammaGc Map 1563 BCE Mediterranean countries Rhumb lines done in ink Shows standard measures of weight for Mediterranean seaports
Flip it!
La Amerique Centrale 1542 France Ink on tracing paper North America orientated with south on top
Air PolluGon Map 2012 Twin CiGes Digital copy Can you see the traffic jams?
ParGe Occidentale du Canada 1688 France Ink on paper Western New France with nagons of Iroquois and other peoples
What quesgons does this map answer? What quesgons does this map raise?