GeographyAlive:EarlyStage1Geography(Unit2)

©GeographyTeachersAssociationNSW

Lesson1:Exploringmaps

Contentfocus:Inthislessonstudentsareexposedtoarangeofmaps.Itgivesstudentstheopportunitytoexplorethesemaptypesandtheirdifferentfeatures.Indoingso,studentsdiscusscollaborativelywhattheyknowaboutmapsdrawingfromtheirexistingknowledgebase.Theteacherprovidesstudentswiththeopportunitytoexpresswhattheywouldliketoknowaboutmapsandwhattypesofmapstheywouldliketolearnabout.

Resources:

• Arangeofmaps.Thesecanrangefromtreasuremaps,mapsoflocalareas,mapsofschooland/orclassroom,streetdirectories,anatlasoraGPSsystem.

• Aglobeoftheworld• Interactivewhiteboard• Amapoftheschool• AccesstoGoogleEarth• ResourceSheet1:SampleschoolmapandGoogleEarthimage• Worksheet1:Neighbourhoodmapactivity• ResourceSheet2:Vocabularycards• Enlargedteachercopyoftheneighbourhoodmap• Colourpencilsandglue

Keyinquiryquestions:• Whatisamapandwhat

aretheyusedfor?

Outcomes:Astudent:

• identifiesplacesanddevelopsanunderstandingoftheimportanceofplacestopeople

• communicatesgeographicalinformationandusesgeographicaltools.

Lessonsequence:• Step1:Introducethetopictostudentsbydisplayingacopyofamapoftheschoolontheinteractivewhiteboard.Give

studentstimetolookatitcloselyandseeiftheycanidentifyanythingthatlooksfamiliar.BringupaGoogleEarthimageoftheschool.HavethestudentscomparethemapoftheschoolandGoogleEarthimage.AskstudentsiftheycanidentifyanyofthefeaturesshowintheGoogleEarthimage.Askthestudentswhichoftheseartefactsisitamap?And,whatdoweusemapsfor?SeeResourceSheet1asanexample.

• Step2:Discusswithstudentswhatmapsareandwhattheyareusedfor.Mapsarerepresentationsoftheworldcreatedbypeoplecalledcartographerstohelppeoplelocateplaces.Mapscontaininformationforpeopletofindtheirwayfromoneplacetoanother.Theyalsodisplayfeaturessuchaslandforms,vegetation,townandcities,landuses,transportnetworksandpoliticalboundaries.Mapshaveanumberoffeaturesincommon.Anindicationofdirection,gridreferences,legends(keys),anindicationofthescalethemapisdrawnatandatitle.

• Step3:Makeavocabularywallforstudentsanddiscussthemeaningofsomeofthesewords:Features–adistinctiveaspectofsomethingDirection–Thepositiontowardswhichsomeoneorsomethinglies,movesorfacesMap–Adrawingoftheearth’ssurface,orpartofthatsurface,showingtheshapeandpositionofdifferentfeatures.Aerialview–Viewfromabove,lookingdown;alsoknownas‘bird’seyeview’Above–Aphysicalpositioninrelationtoanotherobjectorfeature–over,ontopof,higherBelow–Aphysicalpositioninrelationtoanotherobjectorfeature–Beneath,lower,furtherdownBeside–Aphysicalpositioninrelationtoanotherobjectorfeature–nextto,nearby,atthesideofPlace–Aspace,areaorspotsetapartorusedforaparticularpurpose.

GeographyAlive:EarlyStage1Geography(Unit2)

©GeographyTeachersAssociationNSW

Earth–ThenameoftheplanetweliveonLegend–ThewordswrittennexttoamapthatexplainwhatitisaboutorwhatmapsymbolsmeanSymbol–Asign,shapeorobjectthatisusedtorepresentsomethingelse

• Step4:Placearangeofmap-basedresourcesaroundtheclassroomforstudentstoexplore.Givestudentstimetoviewallthe

differenttypesofmaps.Youmayalsoliketodisplaymagnifyingglassesforstudentstouse.• Step5:Studentsreturntotheflooranddiscussthefeaturesofsomeofthemapstheylookedat.Didtheyseeanysymbols?

Legends?Wherewasthemapshowing?Showstudentsenlargedcopyofaneighbourhoodmap(Worksheet1).Discussthethingstheycanseeandcomparethesewiththingstheymightfindintheirneighbourhoods.Studentsgluetheircopyofneighbourhoodmapintotheirbookstocompleteduringnextlesson.

• Step6:ConcludelessonbyreturningtoGoogleEarth[https://www.google.com.au/earth/]andsearchanaddresstoshow

studentswheretheirhouseisonamap.