Map Coordinates
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On electronic maps, coordinates may not be as important, but for printed maps, you must show students how coordinates work in the grid system.
Icons on Maps
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Maps need labels to have meaning, and as well as including written words, maps have icons/symbols. They work like name labels, but take up less space. Introduce students to common icons and symbols (like crosses for hospitals), including color coding (like blue for water), but also have students guess at decoding them, and have them make their own systems of icons.
Interactive Maps
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Technology has given us the ability to manipulate maps, which is extremely helpful in the case of huge scale maps of our universe. We have go backward and forward and view the changes to our Earth, other planets, moons, and stars. We can see orbits change, understand the phases of the moon, see what happens as stars die, and etc.
Bird's Eye View
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This is different from a true map; it is a map-like text shows the subject from overhead as it would be seen from above by a bird, or by anyone flying overhead in a plane, etc. It shows perspective, whereas a map flattens subjects out and omits some details. Bird’s eye views help students understand spatial relationships and explain pathways that we take. Students can use bird’s eye views to instruct others on how to locate or arrive at a destination. Moline stresses the importance of showing students the differences between bird’s eye views and maps. Bird’s eye views will show details and, like photographs, may show uniqueness that maps generalize and simplify. An aerial photograph of a neighborhood, for instance, may show three cars on the road. It may contain people and/or animals, it will show the plant life. It will show the road signs. And etc. The map will distill the neighborhood to its salient details. It will show that there are roads, but place no cars on them because cars are transient. It will not show details unless they are important. For instance, the map will not show the stop signs along the road unless it is specifically a map specifically created to show how many stop signs there are in the neighborhood.
Personal Maps
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Personal maps are maps in which we can locate ourselves in our surroundings. They answer the question, “Where am I?” Personal maps also place students in context. They use this context to show where other things are in relation to them. For instance, students may place themselves on a map of their town and trace their route to their homes. Or, in a map of the school, students may locate their classroom. Then, they can map out any number of things, like showing someone how to get from the classroom to the cafeteria, or mapping out what path to take to exit the building in case of a fire. Personal maps can be large in scale (Where am I on Earth? In the universe?) or small (If I am here in my room, where is my closet?). Personal maps may also be used to teach student relevance, to show them what is important enough to go on maps of different subjects. Details on a map of the neighborhood would be different from details on the map of a classroom.
Maps of the Unknown
_Maps of the unknown are
typically geographical and serve to familiarize students with places and
people they have never seen. Maps of the unknown are used to develop
global perspective. This type of map is the kind educators most commonly
think of for use in the classroom. If the students are learning about
another place, constructing a map of it makes the place feel more
concrete to students.
Time Maps
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Summarize a process that moves through time as well as space. There are two types of time map: a map with arrows showing a pathway or journey, and a series of maps of the same place at different times that shows change. An example of the first is the map shown by a GPS depicting a suggested route to a destination. A weather forecast segment on the news is an example of the second type, where the graphics change to depict the weather throughout the day or week. High and low pressure systems move around on the static picture of the United States. Time maps record processes, change, and movement of things or people. They help students imagine things at different times by giving them the ability to chart progression (or regression).