Below is a range of ideas for the teaching and learning of maps and places. It is by no means a definitive list, just a brainstorm of ideas I have used and that work. Feel free to comment below and offer feedback on successes and problems as well as any further ideas!
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Purchase ‘SIM’ Games – Sim City – design and build your very own city from scratch and watch it develop; Sim Earth – take charge of the entire planet from its birth to its death – 10 billion years later.
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Around the World Snap – www.greenboardgames.com
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Be creative – make a display of many different types of maps. E.g Antique effect, topological, OS, street maps, physical/political, different projections, different views of the earth etc.
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Either make your own or buy some Top Trumps cards – good for development topics/general country vital statistics!
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Using a spare/free map – make a jigsaw. Laminate the pieces to protect them for longer. This can be used as a small group activity or whole class starter activity depending.
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Keep your eye open for free maps in the Independent Newspaper. This is a frequent occurrence – up-to-data, eye-catching and informative freebies!
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Get your year 7 students to draw the world map from scratch, with no help at all. Save these and repeat either at the end of the year/Key stage/school career and compare the differences!
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Produce 3D maps using a variety of materials. Cardboard can be layered to produce 3D contour maps. Paper maché can be used to mould 3D terrain.
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Laminate world physical/political maps. These can be used for a variety of activities. Students can label these maps with dry wipe markers, which can be wiped off after use.
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Help students learn about places by giving students a world map and a map of the UK at the start of the year. When a place is mentioned/discussed/used as a case study pupils can plot this place onto their maps.
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Trivial Pursuit – great version of the game called Globe trotter!
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Students can make their own antique treasure maps and write the directions to their treasure. Maps can be stained with tea/coffee to be made old!
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Students could draw a map of their local area. These can be peer assessed as part of a lesson. What makes a good/bad map?
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Personal Geographies – a good activity at the start of the year with a new group is to ask them to mind map their personal geography (brainstorm using pictures/key words showing links). Where they live; where they have been; where they know about; where they would like to go etc.
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Show students an outline of a country – they guess which country. Be mean and twist the image around to make it more of a challenge!
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Students can peel an orange (world map may be drawn on) to see how difficult it is to make a flat map out of a round object! This links nicely to projections of maps.
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Use the free application of Google earth to pinpoint a particular place.
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Work out the distance to places and make a world signpost on the seiling of your classroom or in real life!
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Give students a outline map of a country/continent – they fill it with words/statements/a poem to describe this place.
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Lord of the Rings – Middle earth Maps are great for escapism!
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Follow a line of longitude/latitude on a globe/world map. List the places (areas/seas/nationa/towns/rivers/mountains etc) through which it goes. This information can be converted into a topological map.
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Show students an incorrect map, and get them to spot the mistakes. This could lead into a discussion about the accuracy of any map.
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Make a tactile map of your local area/school grounds using a variety of materials to represent different areas.
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Where’s Wally – give students clues to a place, each clue making the location more obvious. With atlases students guess after each clue. Score 1 point if they got the correct answer after the first clue etc. Lowest score wins.
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Each student researches one country and produces a page for your class Atlas!
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Pin the feature on the map (same as pin the tail on the donkey) – often producing hilarious results!
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Ask students to bring in postcards from home. Create a display and locate on a world/continent where they have come from.
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Simple quizzes, crosswords, word searches are great for getting students familiar with names of places.
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Encourage students to describe the route taken if they flew there from the UK (names of countries flown over, distance travelled, time zone changes).
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Cartogramming – produce a living map. Students move to the relevant places in the room depending on the task/map. The map could be outlined or imaginary. Labels are an option. E.g. Ask students to move to where they would most like to visit. Reasons why can be shared as a whole class.
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Produce a map of the local environment/school using nothing but smilies to represent emotions/feelings about areas.
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As a whole class list of where they have visited. Plot them on this map and click to see the results! www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries
My name is Imogen Smith, I am a Geography Teacher, Head of Year and Mentor at St Thomas More Catholic College in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent. The topic I have been asked to present on the 21st August, is ‘Maps and Places’.
Disclaimer…! I am no fountain of knowledge. I am absolutely terrible in pub quizzes, especially when it comes to the Geography section. Afterall Geography is NOT a Trivial Pursuit. But my philosophy is…it does help to know where you have been, where you are and where you going…
I hope you enjoy the day.
Imogen Smith
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