This lesson asks student to label some boundaries (e.g., between states or countries) on a map and then to think about the boundaries they are familiar with near their homes. They will conduct research to find out why local political boundaries, such as those between two towns, were created, and will report this information on a local map that they draw.

Geography, current events, and social studies

Standard 13: "How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface"

Three hours

• Computer with Internet access
• Blank Xpeditions outline maps of the world, one for each student
• Writing and drawing materials
• Two to four recent news stories about conflict or cooperation

Students will

• label some boundaries on their maps;
• label the physical features along the boundaries;
• research political boundaries in their local area, and discuss their findings; and
• create annotated maps of their local area, showing the political boundaries they have learned about.

Have students read the Boundary Ballads activity and use National Geographic's MapMachine or an atlas to identify the boundaries discussed. Have them list the boundaries on their own paper and label them on their blank outline maps.

Have students locate and label the following additional boundaries (they may need to look at an atlas or the MapMachine again to find these locations):

• The boundary between India and China
• The boundary between Egypt and Saudi Arabia
• The boundary between Chile and Argentina
• The boundary between Illinois and Iowa
• The boundary between the United States and Mexico

Have students go to the MapMachine and look at the physical maps for each of the places they have labeled on their maps. Have them take note of the physical features that create most of these boundaries (e.g., mountain ranges, rivers, and lakes) and write these features on a paper next to the name of the countries or states they separate.

Write the words "Political" and "Physical" on the board. Read to the class the definition of boundaries from the definition link at the Boundary Ballads Activity. Tell students that political boundaries are the lines that people and governments make up to separate countries, states, or smaller units, and that physical boundaries are features of the natural landscape that automatically create some separation between places. As they have noticed, political boundaries are frequently created from the physical boundaries that already exist.

Ask students to think about the political and physical boundaries that they come across in their lives. How is their town separated from other towns? Is there a river, lake, or other physical feature separating the towns, or is the boundary strictly political? Why was this political boundary created? Have students use the library, the Internet, or other local resources to research the history of their town or region and to find out more about why local boundaries were created the way they were.

Discuss students' research results. What boundaries did they investigate? Why were these boundaries created? Do students notice any difference in the landscape when they cross this boundary? If so, what differences do they notice?

Ask students to draw maps of the local area (including their town or city and several surrounding communities) and to write detailed captions for the maps describing the political and physical boundaries and the reasons why the political boundaries were created.

Choose two to four recent news stories that involve issues of conflict or cooperation between groups of people, such as wars, ethnic tensions, immigration issues, peace negotiations, or collaborations between countries or states. Have students read the stories as a class, and help them understand what the stories are about and what parties are involved in the conflict or cooperation. Have students map the locations of these news stories on a world outline map.

International Court of Justice
National Geographic: MapMachine
National Geographic: Xpeditions Activity—Boundary Ballads