Mapping It Out - Great Lessons For Geography
Through geography lesson plans students can learn about history, science, and a variety of other subjects.
By Debra Karr
When Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, he intended to land somewhere else. Oops. Too bad he didn't have the right map. The lessons below can help students learn about geography, and maps in a creative and practical way through hands-on map-making and interdisciplinary projects. These activities can also help students discover, not just one, but many related topics.
How did HIV/AIDS spread through Africa and why? How did the Ancient Egyptian Empire become a world super power? What is the distance between Boston and Philadelphia? How can we measure this distance to scale? The answers to these questions cover history, math, health, science, and sociology, yet they are all embedded within the geography lessons listed below. As teachers, it is important to have our students learn through cross-curricular topics. By teaching lessons that combine several academic areas, we are giving our students' brains a great workout, requiring them to use a plethora of skills, and helping them to see the interrelationships between content areas.
As we clear a path for our students to obtain higher level thinking skills, we are mapping their way towards a more rewarding future. By giving our students challenges, and setting higher standards, we are expanding their minds, and opening up more options. Remember to always check for prior knowledge, model, check for understanding, and implement closure so that students have a solid foundation for learning.
Geography Lesson Plans:
In this lesson students research, write and create content for their own city guide or brochure after learning about the cultural, historical and geographical aspects of historic Boston and Philadelphia. They read the article "Four Centuries and a Cloud of Dust", and answer a series of questions including, "What is the distance between Boston and Philadelphia?" and "What role did John Adams play in Boston's history?" Students then break off into groups, and develop content for the various sections of their City Guide Brochure. Sections will include early history, recent history, geography, "fast facts", recreation and culture. This lesson enables students to combine technology (Internet research) with history, geography, and cultural studies while they also learn about the current culture and trends that are taking place in their present day locale. I would break this lesson down into a series of lessons, first focusing on the historical aspects of Boston and Philadelphia, and then have students learn about their own city on a different day. I might also have students compare the differences between the historic cities of Boston and Philadelphia and their own city through a multi-media map presentation or another presentational format such as a skit or a song.
The Geography and Richness of Egypt
Students have the opportunity to analyze the geographic and natural resources that were available to the ancient Egyptian Empire by studying the map of that region, and viewing video clips from the "Egypt's Golden Empire" web site. With the "Virtual Egypt" feature, students will visit Deir El Medina, Temple of Ptah, and Karnack Processional Way while answering questions related to those locations. Students end the lesson by presenting their research in groups, or individually. I like that this lesson used a virtual tour which requires students to navigate multi-media software. I think students might also make lists of vocabulary that describes the geographic features that represent wealth in the Ancient Egyptian Empire.
As students participate in this lesson, they will analyze spatial organization and how this kind of organization influences people and, more specifically, how it influences current issues in Africa. Students brainstorm questions about the spread of HIV/AIDS, and how it spread in Africa. Students learn how a geographic perspective is applied to the issue. They will then research and brainstorm other issues like "deforestation" and "urbanization" and will apply a geographic perspective to those issues via maps. They will use a handout that focuses on the geographic perspective to help them brainstorm more effectively. I like the way this lesson combines the learning of graphs, maps, and spatial relationships with the human experience. Visual interpretations of human disease and poverty represented geographically tend to have a more powerful impact than just reading facts and figures. But prior to even beginning this lesson, I would have students embark upon a rigorous vocabulary awareness exercise so they become familiarized with words like "deforestation", "corruption", "desertification". This lesson ties in language arts with cultural studies, geography, health, and economics.
In this lesson students will design their own map of an island by measuring and following the terms provided. They will also be reading the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins". In conjunction with the map they will also be writing a creative story about their journey to the newly-created "island", and learning new vocabulary words along the way. I like that the lesson combines measuring, reading, and comprehension skills. I would also have students create a list of adjectives that describe the island, and then ask them to create some kind of vacation brochure using those adjectives.
