We respond daily to situations that call upon our use of mental maps. Usually these situations are as minor as giving directions to our home for a friend's visit. Once in a while, our perception of space, direction, and distance may take on life-and-death urgency, such as when we guide a rescue vehicle to the location of an accident. Knowledge and experience influence the content of our mental maps. This activity has students use their perceptions of cities around the world to better understand what factors may affect their personal mental maps.

Geography, social studies

Standard 2: "How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context"

One hour

• Blank Xpeditions outline map of the world, one per student
• Classroom atlases
• Chalk and chalkboard or markers and an overhead projector
• Overhead transparencies showing blank Xpeditions outline map of the world (six)

Students will

• see how people's mental maps reflect their perceptions of places;
• learn how to compare sketches of fellow students' mental maps; and
• analyze the subjective criteria that influenced their choices about places to include and label.

On the chalkboard or overhead projector, display the question, "Is Washington, D.C., a significant city? Why or why not?" Record the students' responses and have them give reasons for their choices.

Expand the discussion to include the idea of what would make any city important on a global level.

Distribute the world outline map. Ask the students to list, locate, and label their "Ten Most Important Cities" on the map. Below each city's name students should briefly note why they feel that city is important. Students should not use any resources to aid them in this step. The map should be generated from their mental atlases.

On the chalkboard or overhead projector, create two column headings:

CITIES | REASONS FOR GLOBAL IMPORTANCE

Have the students display and discuss their maps. As the students mention a city and its perceived importance, record the information on the table. During the discussion, be sure to emphasize the criteria the students used in their determination of an important city. From the data on the table, have the class come to consensus on a list of ten most important cities and the reasons for the cities' perceived importance.

Divide the class into five groups, giving each group a world map transparency, an overhead marker, and classroom atlases. Assign each group two of the chosen cities. Have the group locate and label their cities on the transparency.

After the groups have completed their transparency maps, place them on the overhead projector, stacking and aligning the five maps so that the resulting projection is a compilation of all five. Ask the class to analyze the resulting pattern of the cities mapped.

At the conclusion of the discussion, have students compare their original maps with the overhead map. Conduct a discussion focusing on:

• the accuracy of their mental maps;
• their personal perceptions of important cities as compared with the class perception;
• patterns in the perceptions based on gender; and
• possible reasons for students' spatial perceptions and their judgments about what made the cities important.

Have students choose one of the cities discussed by the class and write an essay about the different perceptions revealed during the discussion. Here are some of the questions students might answer in their essays:

• What perceived factors made the city seem important? If there were disagreements, why?
• What ramifications could a positive perception of the city have on its position as a global business or cultural center?
• How would a negative perception affect its position?
• How might people of different ages (generations) view this city based on life experiences?

Gary Miller of F. W. Cox High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, contributed this lesson.

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