Here is a load of downloadable resources used on the course… Help yourself to any of them.

The slide show is available in slideshare… be aware that all illegal photos and pics have been removed from the example below. it should download OK though…

Click here for a copy of the 8 way thinking sheet… Click here for the A3 sheet British Isles outline for a memory mapping exercise. Click here for Madeliene de Shutter’s Europe interactive map. Click here for a copy of Epson’s instructions to make a Globe model. Click here for Roger Graham’s World map Quiz. Click here for the Example AS level questions…

For all the globe trotter resources…Globe trotter statements and answers, Africa outline, Antarctica outline, Asia outline, Europe outline, North America outline, South America outline, Oceania outline.

If you email me any additional resources that you create yourself… I will add them onto this blog on your behalf!!

Enjoy…

Below is a selection of tools that you could use to support teaching/learning of locational knowledge:

• Inflatable globes
• Stand based solid globes
• Floor mat of the world/continents (Argos sell a world map shower curtain for £4.99!!
• Wall maps of the world, continents, countries and other places.
• Satellite images of the Earth
• Aerial photographs of the Earth
• postcards from around the world
• Jigsaw maps
• Atlases
• CD Rom Atlas and encyclopedia
• Lists of useful websites
• Outline maps of countries
• Ordnance Survey, street maps and other large scale maps of local areas.
• Brochures and Newspaper extracts.
• Geo library – books about places/features of the Earth
• Story books based on places around the world
• Collection of tactile objects for students to ask questions about including items from visits, visitors and requests etc.

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!

• 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.

• Around the World Snap – www.greenboardgames.com

• 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.

• Either make your own or buy some Top Trumps cards – good for development topics/general country vital statistics!

• 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.

• Keep your eye open for free maps in the Independent Newspaper. This is a frequent occurrence – up-to-data, eye-catching and informative freebies!

• 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!

• 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.

• 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.

• 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. 

• Trivial Pursuit – great version of the game called Globe trotter!

• 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!

• 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?

• 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.

• 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!

• 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.

• Use the free application of Google earth to pinpoint a particular place.

• Work out the distance to places and make a world signpost on the seiling of your classroom or in real life!

• Give students a outline map of a country/continent – they fill it with words/statements/a poem to describe this place.

• Lord of the Rings – Middle earth Maps are great for escapism!

• 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.

• Show students an incorrect map, and get them to spot the mistakes. This could lead into a discussion about the accuracy of any map.

• Make a tactile map of your local area/school grounds using a variety of materials to represent different areas.

• 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.

•  Each student researches one country and produces a page for your class Atlas!

• Pin the feature on the map (same as pin the tail on the donkey) – often producing hilarious results!

•  Ask students to bring in postcards from home. Create a display and locate on a world/continent where they have come from.

• Simple quizzes, crosswords, word searches are great for getting students familiar with names of places.

• Encourage students to describe the route taken if they flew there from the UK (names of countries flown over, distance travelled, time zone changes).

• 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.

• Produce a map of the local environment/school using nothing but smilies to represent emotions/feelings about areas.

• 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

Below are links to recommended websites for the teaching and learning about maps and places. Just click on the links and surf…

Flash Earth http://www.flashearth.com/

Google Earth http://earth.google.com/

Live Local http://local.live.com/

Geosense   http://www.geosense.net/ 

Geoexplorer http://www.geoexplorer.co.uk/  

World Atlas http://www.worldatlas.com/

OS mapping Our World http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/mappingourworld/mapping_our_world/index.htm

The Impossible Map animation http://www.nfb.ca/animation/objanim/en/films/film.php?sort=title&id=14229 

Where have you visited? http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedCountries

Cyberspace Atlas http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/atlas.html

Lonely Planet http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/

World Map projections http://www.btinternet.com/~se16/js/mapproj.htm

CIA World factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Free out line maps – http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxindex.htm  or http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/county_outline.html

Distance calculator - http://www.indo.com/cgi-bin/dist

Websites to get you started with GIS… 

GIS software - http://www.advisory-unit.org.uk/home.html  

OS GIS http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/gisfiles/

Free GIS – Envrionment Agency What’s in Your Backyard http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/maps/

Geograph www.geograph.org.uk/

OS GIS Zone http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/giszone.html

Here are a couple of sites to get images from of Britain/England: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp http://www.geograph.org.uk/ http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/ http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp

Old Maps! http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genmaps/genfiles/COU_Pages/ENG_pages/sts.htm

The World According to… http://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/kungfu/world/

London Underground http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1108.aspx

Unidted nations Environment Programme http://maps.grida.no/go/searchFree/q/poverty/page/1

More Funny Maps from the Map Room http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom/

Games and Puzzles… http://www.yourchildlearns.com/owlmouse.htm

This is a temporary blog for all the PGCE students attending the subject knowledge course at Keele in August 2007.

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