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Overview:
Students who understand National Geography Standard 2 know that perception influences people's mental maps and attitudes about places. In order to help students grasp how perceptions play out
in the real world, students will analyze sketch
maps produced by different people on the basis of their mental maps and draw inferences about the factors (e.g., culture, age, sex, occupation, experience) that influence perceptions of places.
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, social studies, art
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 2: "How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context"
Time:
Five to six hours
Materials Required:
- Drawing paper
- Pencils, pens, or other markers
Objectives:
Students will
- see how perception influences people's mental maps and attitudes about places;
- analyze sketch maps drawn by fellow students; and
- make inferences of possible biases shown in the maps.
Geographic Skills:
Asking Geographic Questions
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Conduct a classwide brainstorming session on the places where students go during the school day. Be sure to elicit ideas of places that are both formal gathering spots (e.g., the library, classrooms, and lunchrooms) and informal ones (e.g., picnic tables on the lawn, ball fields, and hallway alcoves).
Development:
Ask students to draw a map of the school that
illustrates the spaces they and their friends use. This can be a class assignment or homework. Students should put their names on the backs of these maps.
After the maps are drawn, redistribute them so that each student has another student's map.
Students should work in groups of four to analyze a map or set of maps using the questions in Analysis of School Space Maps (below). These questions can be printed on a handout for students to consult. Each student in the group is responsible for one set of questions and answers and for leading the discussion at some point during the analysis.
After giving students 30 to 45 minutes to analyze the maps, have each group give an oral presentation to the class on one map. Have each student read one of the questions used to analyze the map and discuss the group's answer to that question.
Analysis of School Space Maps
Selections for the Map
- What aspects of the school are represented on this map? What aspects are not represented on this map? What does it mean when some aspects of the school are represented and some are not?
- Has this person been at the school for a year? Two or three years? Why do you think so?
- Does this student appear to like some school subjects more than others? How can you tell?
Closing:
Conduct a classwide discussion with your students about the factors that influence people's perceptions of places.
Suggested Student Assessment:
To assess whether students have learned how to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context, return the maps that the students drew for this lesson. Then have each student write a geography journal analysis of his or her map. The journal entries should make use of the map-analysis questions given in this lesson.
Extending the Lesson:
- Work with the school newspaper and yearbook advisors to have some of the maps, along with written analysis, placed in these publications.
- Have students publish their maps on your school's Web site.
Jody Smother Marcello of Blatchley Middle School in Sitka, Alaska, contributed classroom ideas for Standard 2.
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