Teaching with and through Maps

Content Objectives

Why Teach With Maps

Teachers- beware.  Not all maps are what seem.  No seriously, A LOT of maps are not what they seem. Seriously. I’m not joking.  It’s an important thought to understand and to be able to really wrap your head around that statement. I know for myself, I took maps as fact. Black and white. Night and day.  After taking this course, I have come to realize maps are not always as they seem.¹ The more I talked about and listened about maps, the more I realized everything is not what it appears to be. You need to remember a cartographer made maps and had a perspective, or point of view, (or an ego) that they wished (or were paid) to convey. That’s the first thing (among many) that I learned about maps, and it’s important for you to understand that too. ² Not only did map makers take liberties with the land and sea, but with the stars in the sky as well. ³ Discussing and analyzing maps will help you to become a more critical thinker and question what is placed in front of you.  Maps don’t just teach you where to go, they teach you think analytically, to infer and to reason. It’s about being aware of your surroundings when someone else is making those surroundings. Question everything.

Maps have been around for thousands of years. In Latin the word map, or mappa, means “cloth.” Not only were maps made of cloth, but of stone, silk, animal skins, and many different types of paper.⁴ Maps have also been recorded to be made out of tiles, a person’s body, glass, papyrus, wood, textiles, and computers.  There was also a large shift in maps once the printing press was invented. To summarize, whatever the map was made of can generally reflect the technology that was available at that time for communication.⁵ Can you imagine all of the different materials maps have been put on or made from? Can you imagine all of the different types of materials you could have your students make maps out of? The various sizes of maps that have been created is incredible. At the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, I had the privilege of seeing and feeling maps made from animal skins, or vellum, looking at an atlas as big as my arm span, and looking at a pocket globe that was literally a mini globe showing routes of Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish in a fitted case from circa 1679.⁶ I cannot encourage you enough to visit the Beinecke if you are ever in or around New Haven.  I really can’t remember the last time apart from today that I walked into a building and was in complete awe. I would also encourage you to visit your local libraries and universities to see the gems (or in this case maps) they have within their own collections. To be able to see these primary sources for yourself and to bring back that knowledge and excitement to your students is tremendous. If you are able to go one step further and take a field trip with your students to see in person what they have been studying in class, it will truly bring history alive.

To begin this unit, you have a few jobs to do. First, you will need to familiarize yourself with different types of maps and places to access maps. In the Appendix I have listed many resources for you to use. Secondly, you will also need to make sure you are comfortable with all the questions you are going to be asking. And third, sit back and listen because your students are going to take charge of their learning. Through your questioning and robust discussion your students will gain a better understanding of the map skills and concepts you are trying to teach. This type and frequency of questioning may feel awkward to students at first, but the more you continue with this type of questioning and accountable talk, students will understand it better.

When showing students these maps, I have tried to go from what I think are more ‘baseline’ maps to more complex maps to analyze.  The questions to ask students will be more in-depth as they get more comfortable with exploring and familiarizing themselves with the maps. I am choosing to do this because I want to make sure students have the background knowledge to be able to read a map. I can’t just assume all students will be at the same spatial awareness abilities. Without understanding map scale, projection and symbols a person will not be able to fully interpret a map.⁷  I have included examples of maps under several of the explanations to give you a visual of what I am talking about. I will use some of these maps to create a presentation for students in Phase 1.

As mentioned in the last paragraph, map scale, symbols and projection are like the basic building blocks to understanding a map. The scale of a map should always be included.  It can be presented in several different ways like a ratio (1:500), a visual scale (this looks like a number line) or a quick sentence (One inch equals a mile.). Map symbols vary from map to map and can be pictures, color, textures or hues among other things.⁸  While hugely important, both scale and symbols seem pretty straight forward to me. When you get to map projection however, that is where things can start to feel a little wonky. A Mercator map, named after its creator, Gerardus Mercator, and created in 1569, was the first map to be used for navigation by sailors. ⁹ This map does not show the true size of all the continents.  Remember how we talked about maps usually don’t tell the whole truth? Well, yeah…here it is. Basically, we can’t take a spherical, 3D object and keep everything the same when we turn it into a flat 2D object; something has to give.  In the case of the Mercator projection, continents appear much larger in size than they actually are the closer we get to the poles.¹⁰ As a demonstration, peel an orange during class and try to get it off in one large piece.  Unfold the orange peel into a flat shape and then again into a sphere shape to show students why this distortion occurs. 

Useful Background Information

The content that follows is included to help you, (yes- you!) feel more comfortable with maps and to aid you in helping students to discuss them. I have chosen to analyze these maps for you and to give you guiding questions to ask students.  I know for myself, as someone who is an English Language Arts teachers and not a social studies or history teacher, I did not feel well prepared to discuss maps with my students until after this seminar.

Political Map

A political map will show borders that are man-made, major cities, and sometimes, geographic features. These maps can be hundreds of years old up until the very present.  Political maps can show a variety of information such as change over time in a country’s border, countries ruling over another, and can be any size, from a small town to a region to the world. This map is the type many may think of being shown in a history class.  Or you may be like me and think back to elementary school and the excitement of the map getting pulled down from the chalkboard.  I always held my breath when we were done looking at the map and my teacher was trying to pull the map down just far enough to get it to go back up to go into the roll. Was it going to get stuck and not go back up?  Was it going to fly back up so quickly it made us all jump?  If you’ve ever had these maps in your classroom you’ll know what I’m talking about. I also want to point out not to shy away from a political map that has a political message. Your students have a voice and you’re giving them the tools to be able to use it.

Questions for analyzing and discussing political maps would be:

• What do the symbols, legend and scale tell us?
• What does this map tell us?
• What does this map not tell us?
• What do the colors represent?
• What cities, landmarks, or countries are shown?
• Which direction would you travel from to get to Allentown from Pittsburgh?
• What other states are around Pennsylvania?
• Other general questions for these types of maps can include:
• What is the point of view of cartographer?
• What is left out?
• What questions do you still have about this map?
• Does understanding this map help us understand a part of history you didn’t know about before? What types of conflicts could arise from the map you are seeing?
• Do any natural features influence any borders on the map?

Figure 1: A map of Pennsylvania showing major highways.¹¹

Figure 2: Another map of Pennsylvania with more details.¹²

City Map

For the city map, I will be using a local map of Pittsburgh and encourage you to also use a local map to your area that includes roads and major buildings.  In this type of map, we will be able to see where different races live in the city.  We will not be able to see median household income or voting districts.  I am choosing to add those layered elements at a later time because I firstly want students to be able to orient themselves to the map and be able to use common vocabulary without taking into account more analytical subject matter. ¹³ Once students are able to grasp these common vocabulary terms, which I think they will do so quickly, I will move onto more complex maps. To make the best judgement call, use common sense and know your students.  You may need to adjust based on your grade level band.

Students will especially like a map that is local to them. Here you really want to take the time to talk about places the students know. Discussion here should be robust because students will be able to talk about where they live and where they go. 

Questions for this type of map should include:

• Who would use this map and why?
• Is there anything missing from this map?
• Would you change this map in any way?
• If you were to tell a story about this map, where would the beginning, middle and end be?
• What can you infer about this map?
• Are there any patterns on this map?
• Is this map showing you something unexpected?
• What questions do you have about this map?

Think about your city.  What stories need to be told and how can you tell them through maps?  When thinking of Pittsburgh in this way I think of the Hill District and the leveling of homes in a mostly African American community to make way for a sports arena. It’s a story that needs to be told. It’s not pretty, but it’s a part of our city’s history and should not be forgotten. What part(s) of your city do your students need to be informed about?  What parts need to be celebrated with joy? What parts need to be remembered so we don’t repeat history? Look for those stories, and you will surely find maps to help you find your way.

Figure 3: A map showing the racial makeup of the neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh.¹⁴ 

World Map

For the world map, I would like you to show students several versions of a world map view.  There are thousands you can show!  Another type of world map you can show is a map where the United States is in the center of the map.  This allows your questioning to go deeper into why students think this is. You may also want to show world maps from the 16^th through 18^th centuries that include colonialized areas and countries that don’t politically exist anymore. There are several key points that you should be aware of when discussing world maps with students.  The first is that early European maps show what was explored and what the mapmakers knew at the time.  Parts of countries may be missing from the map because the mapmaker simply didn’t know what else was there. In studying world maps you really need to be thinking about the background, or the point of view, of the mapmaker. Was it to show how grand a certain country was? Was it to show religious dominance over another religion or region?  Why are the sizes of some continents portrayed on maps not representative of their true size? This is just another reminder that when looking at maps, to approach them with a critical eye.  Just because it’s on a map doesn’t mean it’s true or accurate.

Questions for these types of map could be:

• How is this map similar/different from the other world map we have looked at?
• What questions do you have about this map?
• If you lived in the (Soviet Union) how would this map affect your life?
• How has the map changed over time?
• Do you think our present world map will continue to change?
• What time period could this be from?
• What does this map tell you about what is important during this time?
• What kind of “story” does this map tell?

Figure 4: The map created by Ortelius is part of a larger collection titled, Theater of the World in 1570.¹⁵

Figure 5: A world map where the United States is centered.¹⁶

Celestial Map

A celestial map shows stars, constellations and other objects that are in the sky. You can show a Western version of the constellations, a Chinese version, and an Ancient Greek version to help facilitate discussion about the similarities and differences between the three maps and cultures.  When I think of the moon, one of the first thing I think of are the pictures taken during Neil Armstrong’s moon landing.  But, did you know the first photograph of the moon was taken in 1840?¹⁷ And, the first atlas of the moon was made in 1647!¹⁸ What a wonderful activity to work on compare and contrast with.

After discussing several maps that show ownership, borders, and boundaries, students should come to know that outer space has no boundaries or country-owned territories. Teachers should be familiar with the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 which states that no country shall have ownership of parts of space. This is the opposite of many of the maps in which students have been discussing.  Take time with students to discuss this treaty and its implications.  It would be interesting to discuss here that even though the United States was the first country to land on the moon and place the flag on it, the United States has no claim to the territory of the moon.  Students may think that the United States owns the moon because the USA flag was placed on the moon.

Questions would be:

• Why do you think the treaty is in place?
• What was the goal of the treaty?
• What are the benefits to having this treaty in place?
• Are there negatives to this treaty and if so, explain?
• Do you think companies or governments will try to change this treaty in the future?
• Do you think it should be changed, why or why not?
• Why are there different versions of sky maps?
• Can you create a story from one of the constellations?

Additional Maps

The types of maps that follow in the section below are other examples of what you can also show and discuss with students. You can use these maps in a different kind of way in your classroom or continue with the discussion model.  Many of the higher-level questions will overlap when discussing different map styles and genres.

Transportation Map

For this map, you want to pick a map showing transportation movement, whether it be a bus route or subway map, local or not, depending on what your city or town offers. 

Questions would be: Who has taken these routes and where they were going? If you could go anywhere on this map where would you go? Does this map leave anything out? Why? Can you plan out the quickest route if I needed to go to these 3 places?

Flight Map

A flight map can help students see how big (or small) the world can become through higher forms of transportation. I would suggest going to a website where students can input a departure and arrival city to see different flight patterns for themselves.

Questions to ask on this map would be: How is this similar and different from the other transportation map we looked at?  Instead of saying, “Why would a flight from Pittsburgh to Toyoko fly north towards Canada?”  Ask, “What patterns do you see? What does this tell us?” You want students to come to their own conclusions about the flight map patterns instead of leading them directly to that assumption.

Topographic Map

This type of map can show borders but is mostly concerned with showing the elevation of places using contour lines.  The closer the lines are together, the steeper the land is. 

Questions for this type of map would be: What do you notice? What information does this map tell?  Who would use this map?  What would they use it for? Would you want to go on a hike at this spot?

Imaginative Map

An imaginative map is basically exactly what it is named, a map from the imagination.  These maps can be fantasy worlds, thoughts or feelings map, story maps, among many others.  In addition, students can make a map of their own thinking. Pick a map here that reflects a fictional land or area. 

Questions can be: How is this similar or different from what we’ve looked at so far? If this map was to tell a story what would it say? Can you infer anything about the people who created this map or anything about the era of the time it was created? Many types of these maps may also include amazing artwork in or around the map.  Be sure to bring this up in classroom discussion if has not already been brought up by a student.

GIS

A GIS map, or a Geographic Information System is an online tool that can also be shared with students.  For these types of maps, you can add layers to see the same area with different types of information on it.  Each layer will be something different like topography or perhaps bus stops. ¹⁹ It is important to note that using a GIS should not be given randomly or haphazardly to students.²⁰  There are several websites that you and your students can explore.  (See Classroom Activities)

Questions could include: Did you find anything incorrect or missing on the map?  Where you able to find what you wanted on the map?  Do you think technology helps the map reader?