Tuesday-Wednesday Oct 7th, 8th Day 31, 32

Introduction to the Unit

We are beginning our Unit on the History of Cartography (map making). In this unit students will learn about the challenges early map makers had in representing an accurate picture of their surroundings. Many early map makers had limited to no technology at their disposal and had to develop a way to represent various land features, coast lines, mountains, etc. This led to many early maps being incredibly limited and  inaccurate. These inaccuracies led  many expeditions to unknown parts of the world and resulted in some very destructive behaviors as well as new found places and people. This unit will cover various explorers, and the lands they mapped-out for future exploration.

Objectives and outcomes:
*Given a blank piece of paper, the student will experience the challenges of a cartographer in producing and accurate map based solely on verbal instructions.
*Given a fictitious land mass to view, students will use only cardinal direction in describing the details to a amateur cartographer in producing a map.
*Given a description of a fictitious island, students will use recently acquired mapping skills to produce an accurate replication of the described land.
* Given a blank piece of paper students will be able to draw a relatively accurate map of a familiar place they know very well.

Does this look very accurate?

Steps to Map Making - ( Map Making Steps )
Cartographer project -  ( Project Directions )