Activity

• Task: The task is to make a map of an area near the school. The map should include how the land inyour neighborhood is being used. For example, does it have lawns, fields, forests, gravel pits, lakes rocky outcrops, houses, etc.?
• Defining the task: The teacher should select a safe area with a variety of land uses. The teacher should ask the students to identify what they observe in the area; he or she should keep a list of observations for reference during the mapping exercise. This list should form the basis for map legend (which can be modified during the mapping exercise, if needed). Opportunities should be provided for the students to share their results with one another.
• Further exploration: As a weekend assignment, each student may wish to elicit the cooperation of an adult to make a map of his or her own home neighorhood.
• Conclusion: The class can compare and contrast the students' results for the site they visited together. The teacher can record the similarities and differences in the maps as part of a summary discussion.
  • The students can follow up by presenting the maps of their home neighborhoods. Did they need to modify the legends from the maps made during class?
  • Did some students map the same neighborhood? If so, how do these maps compare with one another?

Curriculum Related Applications

• Math: Representing the size of large features -- e.g., houses -- on a small two dimensional plane.
• Social Studies: Providng basic experiences with map-making.