Students will create maps of their state using information you show them from National Geographic's MapMachine. They'll then make their own maps from memory after studying the original maps they created. Conclude with a discussion of the benefits of understanding your state map and remembering certain key features of the state's geography.

Geography

Standard 1: "How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective"
Standard 3: "How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface"

Two to three hours

• Computer with Internet access and projector
• Print atlas or class wall map
• Globe
• Crayons
• Colored pencils (optional)
• Blank outline map of your state (available at National Geographic's Xpeditions Atlas; select the basic rather than the detailed map and make one copy for each student)

Students will

• discuss the shape of their state;
• draw and label features on a blank map of their state, using National Geographic's MapMachine and a print atlas or wall map;
• discuss student observations of their state's geographic features;
• compare their state's map projection to its global one;
• make their own state maps from memory; and
• discuss why it's important to learn and remember basic features of a state's geography.

Give each student a blank outline map of their state (available at National Geographic's Xpeditions Atlas; select the basic rather than the detailed map).

Ask students to describe the state's shape. Is it shaped like a rectangle or square, or it is "funny-shaped?" Does the state's shape remind them of anything (e.g., some people think the lower part of Michigan looks like a mitten).

Have students look at a political map of their state, either in a print atlas or on a class wall map. Help them identify major cities, rivers, lakes, and the ocean if applicable. If your state has many rivers or lakes, just choose one or two to point out to the class.

Ask students to draw and label these features on their blank maps in black crayon.

Using a computer projected to the entire class, go to the National Geographic MapMachine. Type your state into the "Find a Place" window in the upper right, and click "Find."

You'll see a list of places that have your state's name. Find the actual state listing (e.g., "Colorado, State, United States"), and click it.

Click on the U.S. Topographic Map from the list of maps. You'll see a topographical map of your state.

Explain to the class that topographic maps reveal the presence of physical features on Earth's surface. For example, "bumpy" areas on the map indicate hills or mountains; and, the "bumpier" the map appears, the greater the amount of such said vertical features. Do they see any hills or mountains on this map?

If there are no noticeable hills or mountains on the MapMachine map, go on to the next step. If there are hills or mountains on the map, have students use black crayons to draw them on their own maps.

Use your browser's Back button to return to the list of maps for your state, and select the U.S. Street Map. This will take you to a map showing the state's main interstates. Explain to the class what the map shows.

Have students use red crayons to draw some or all of these highways onto their own maps.

Use your browser's Back button to return to the list of maps for your state, and select the World Satellite map. Explain that this is a picture of the state taken from a satellite high above the earth, and that it shows the colors of their state's landscape. The cities and highways have been drawn in. The green areas represent places of dense vegetation (e.g., forested areas). Brown areas indicate the presence of grasslands, deserts, or other areas on Earth's surface that are not densely vegetated.

What colors do students notice on their state's satellite map? Help them locate their part of the state, and ask them to describe the colors they see there. Do these colors resemble those that they see each day near their homes? Have students discuss the possible causes for color differences between what is shown in the satellite image and what they're actually seeing outside at this point in time (e.g., it's winter now and the earth is brown or covered with snow).

Have students use brown and green crayons (or colored pencils) to shade the colors shown in the satellite map onto their own maps (tip: ask them to shade very lightly so that they don't obscure the things they've already drawn on their maps).

Discuss what students have learned about their state from the maps they've seen and drawn.

Show the class a globe, and help students locate their state. Ask them if the globe shows the same state features that previously viewed maps did. Can they learn as much about their state from the globe? Why or why not? They should realize that a globe is great for looking at the continents, countries, oceans, and the shape of Earth, but it's not usually very helpful in showing the details of a particular state.

Have students make their own state maps by drawing the outline of their state from scratch. Do not allow them to trace the outline. If necessary, they can practice several times with scratch paper and pencil until they are satisfied with the resemblance to their state's shape. Obviously, students from Wyoming will have an easier time with this task than students from Michigan or Maryland!

Ask students to return to the maps they created in the earlier part of this lesson and have them study the characteristics of features they've drawn (e.g., location, breadth, etc.). They should try to remember as much as possible things that the maps show.

Have students hide their original maps, or take them away so they can't peek. Ask students to use crayons or colored pencils to draw their state's geographic features onto their new maps.

Have students compare their original maps to their new ones. How much did they remember? What do they need to study more?

Discuss why it's a good idea to be able to remember some basic things about your state, such as where the mountains, main cities, and major rivers are.

Go to National Geographic's Wild World Terrestrial Ecoregions, and type your state's name in the "Find an Ecoregion" window on the left. You'll see a list similar to the one you saw at the MapMachine; select your state from the list.

The colors represent different ecoregions that can be found in your state. Click on each of the colors shown in your state one at a time, and show students the photographs (link to "More Photos"). Discuss the landscape, plants, and animals shown in these photographs. Do any of these scenes look familiar to students?

Have students draw pictures of various landscape scenes that they observe in these photographs onto additional blank maps of their state (these maps can be ones they've drawn themselves or they can be from National Geographic's Xpeditions Atlas).

National Geographic: MapMachine
National Geographic: Wild World Terrestrial Ecoregions
National Geographic: Xpeditions Atlas