Teacher's Guide
Introduction
Map Adventures, with seven accompanying lessons, is appropriate for grades K-3. Students will learn basic concepts for visualizing objects from different perspectives and how to understand and use maps.
The lessons center on a story about a little girl named Nikki. Nikki goes up in an unplanned balloon ride that gives her, and the students, different views of a park.
Included in this package are:
- Seven lesson plans
- A picture of a hot-air balloon
- Two activity sheets
- 15 reproducible black-and-white sections of a park map that can be made into a poster
About the poster
The poster in this teaching package, made from the 15 reproducibles, shows different views of the same place (a park) from different perspectives. It includes three illustrations of the park: a ground view (illustration 1), a view from a higher point (illustration 2), and an overhead view (illustration 3). The three illustrations correspond to parts of a story about an adventure a little girl has in a park.
The illustrations will help your students move from visualizing objects from the most familiar perspective (a ground view) to the overhead view represented by most maps. This is the most basic and necessary skill in helping students understand and use maps.
The lesson plans also introduce the concept of how symbols are used on maps to represent objects or features. It is not possible to show everything about a place on one map and still make it easy to read and understand. So mapmakers use symbols for many different kinds of features or objects. Another key point is learning to use map legends.
What's included in the lessons?
- Lesson 1: View From the ground -- Helps students think about how they view the world and the perspective with which they are most familiar. The lesson also introduces the students to a little girl named Nikki, who goes up in an unplanned balloon ride.
- Lesson 2: View from a Higher Point -- Provides an opportunity for the students to think about how objects change in appearance depending on the perspective from which they are viewed.
- Lesson 3: View from Overhead -- Introduces the concept of maps and helps students understand the overhead view presented by most maps.
- Lesson 4: Symbols and Legends -- Helps students become familiar with the concept of symbols and how to use a legend.
- Lesson 5: Learning Directions on a Map -- Helps students learn about direction and relative location. It helps students realize that it is possible to describe the relationship between the direction from one place to another.
- Lesson 6: Map Grids -- Helps students develop skills students need to understand absolute location - where things are on the Earth's surface.
- Lesson 7: Map Scale -- Introduces students to the concept of measuring distances on a map and measuring the size of objects.
Obtaining USGS educational materials
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Department of the Interior, provides the Nation with reliable, impartial information to describe and understand the Earth.
This information is used to minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy, and mineral resources; enhance and protect the quality of life; and contribute to wise economic and physical development.
For information on other USGS products and services, call 1-888-ASK-USGS, use the Ask.USGS fax service, which is available 24 hours a day at 703-648-4888, or visit the general interest publications Web site on mapping, geography, and related topics at mac.usgs.gov/mac/isb/pubs/pubslists/index.html.
For additional information, visit the ask.usgs.gov Web site or the USGS home page at www.usgs.gov.
