Take a ride on the Paris Metro, without leaving the classroom. Students will use Xpedition Hall's interactive feature, Paris Scope, to learn more about the history of Paris by visiting sites at Metro stops. Students will practice map-reading skills by tracing the route to take on the Paris Metro to get from one site to another.

Geography, life skills

Standard 12: "The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement"

Two hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Maps of the Paris Metro, one for each student (if you have the free Adobe Acrobat reader, use this PDF version)
• A blackboard or whiteboard
• Pencils

Students will

• gather information about historical sites in Paris;
• determine the shortest Metro routes to different sites in Paris, using a map;
• write directions, based on the information recorded on a map;
• research a site in Paris; and
• present their findings in writing.

Introduce students to the Paris Scope exhibit by asking them to free associate what they know about Paris. Some appropriate responses would be the Eiffel Tower, art, cheese, or other creamy foods. Ask the students if they would ever think of opera music, science, aqueducts, or elephant tusks. Tell the students to look for references to these things as they take a virtual tour of Paris. Tell them to stop when they get to the postcard and write you a note as if they were at their favorite stop.

After students have visited all of the stops on the virtual Metro, ask them which sites were their favorites. On the blackboard, list the four cities of Etoile, Cite, Cluny, and Bastille. Vote on which sites were their favorites, and rank the cities, based on the class preferences.

Pass out the subway maps, and ask students to locate the Metro stop for each town on the board and mark the ranking the class gave that site on their map, such as Bastille, 3. When they are finished, ask them to connect the cities, using the subway lines for a guide. This should be done in pencil.

Based on the rankings, write subway directions for a day in Paris, planning a visit to each site. Tell students to start from the most popular site and explain which train(s) you would take to get to the next site on the list. Tell students that since they are only in town for one day, they want to start with the most popular places, as suggested by their classmates, not necessarily the places that are closer to one another. Remind students to include the color of the train line and the direction they should be taking it. You would not want to get on a train heading east if you were trying to get to Etoille from Cluny. You could end up in Jussieu!

Add stops to the Paris Scope interactive feature. Using other places on the subway map, have students research the history of another site. Remind students to look into the area today, as well as in the past, and to use the text on the Paris Scope activity as a model for the paragraph they write.

National Geographic: Xpedition Hall—Paris Scope
Paris Subway Map
Paris Subway Map (PDF Version)