Reading and Analyzing Maps By Liz Crouse ETT 536 Spring 2004

Topic and Audience 5 th grade students are expected to use and evaluate maps in reading, social studies, and science. They need to be able to get past just “reading” a map and learn to use the map to infer facts and draw conclusions. To achieve this goal, this module will explore map types and teach 5 th grade students to evaluate and use maps so they can apply these skills across the curriculum.

Goals and Objectives Locate and name the US states and capitals on a map Identify location of places chosen by the teacher and students using a map grid with longitude and latitude Use critical thinking skills to organize and use information from maps.

Instructional Strategies Tutorials Online quizzes Drill and Practice Interactive interfaces

Interactivity Treatments/Ideas Drag and drop map of continents Tutorial about longitude/latitude Tutorial about types of maps and reasons for using each Drag and drop practice in matching states/capitals Practice finding set places using lat/long Practice using lat/log to identify specific places

Project Structure Clear tutorial, practice, and quiz pages Resource page Menu bar on left side listing choices

Technical Challenges Elementary schools are still not designed to manage the WBL environment well. Information needs to be presented in a manner that is DIFFERENT from what students can get in other medias…the technology can’t be a distraction. School servers often get overwhelmed when multiple computers try to access the same information at the same time. Options need to be available so that students can work on different areas at the same time. Design module so students can be working in more than one area at a time…less stress on server

Questions Why would it be better to present this topic as WBL vs. traditional teaching? What makes the WBL experience unique and worthy of the added “hassles” (even to the confident computer user) of managing 30 students in a small computer lab? What makes this WBL experience special, so that “computer-wary” teachers would be willing to try it? The project will have a collection of resources…less work for the teacher to collect… Project also encourages students to work together and use multiple resources Resources found online (especially for maps and documents) are much more varied than those available in the classroom.

LATITUDE & LONGITUDE Latitude (shown as a horizontal line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds of a point north or south of the Equator. Lines of latitude are often referred to as parallels. Longitude (shown as a vertical line) is the angular distance, in degrees, minutes, and seconds, of a point east or west of the Prime (Greenwich) Meridian. Lines of longitude are often referred to as meridians.