1. The World in Spatial Terms Unit 5, Lesson 1: How Can Maps Help Us Better Understand the Earth?

2. Where do you think the basketball came from?
Alaska resident Aleasha Hohorst, 18, holds a basketball with ''Kesen Junior High'' printed on it on May 14, Hohorst found the ball on an island near her home in Craig, Alaska.
Alaska Resident Finds Basketball. 22 July
Where do you think the basketball came from?

3. How do you think the basketball got from Japan to Alaska?
According to the school in Rikuzentakata, Japan, the ball belongs to its basketball team. Hohorst has said she wishes to visit the school and return the ball.
How do you think the basketball got from Japan to Alaska?

4. Using a map provided by your teacher:
Label as many continents and oceans as you can from memory.
2. Label Alaska and Japan
3. Draw the route of the basketball’s route from Japan to Alaska.
4. Add as much detail and as many labels as you can.

6. How did the basketball get from Japan to Alaska?
Tsunamis
A tsunami (pronounced “soo-nah-mee”) is a series of ocean waves caused by any large, abrupt disturbance of the sea-surface. Earthquakes cause most tsunamis, but a tsunami can also be generated by landslides, volcanic activity, or rarely by meteor impact. If the disturbance is close to the coastline, a local tsunami can cause death and destruction among coastal communities within minutes. A very large disturbance, such as the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the Japanese coast in 2011, can generate waves that cause local devastation and destruction thousands of miles away. .
Source: Tsunamis. 27 July
How did the basketball get from Japan to Alaska?

7. What kind of maps could help us better understand the earthquake and resulting tsunami?

8. Kesen Junior High School 26 July 2012. www.maps.google.com

14. 2011 Japan Earthquake Epicenter. 26 July 2012. http://www

15. Every map serves a purpose. Every map advances an interest.
Remember….
Every map serves a purpose.
Every map advances an interest.
Every map has a story to tell.
(Kaiser & Wood, 2001, Seeing Through Maps, p.4)

16. Thematic or Special Purpose Maps
All maps have a purpose….. All maps tell a story.
Since all maps are created for a purpose, they show particular information about a geographic area.
Examples:
Political Information
Physical Geography
Economic /Agricultural Information
Social/Cultural Information

17. What types of maps could help us learn more about Japan and the story of the basketball?

18. Maps of Japan. 26 July 2012. http://geography. about. com/gi/o. htm

19. Physical Map of Japan. 26 July 2012. http://www. freeworldmaps

20. Maps to help us learn more about the 2011 earthquake and tsunami

21. Tsunami Height. 27 July 2012. http://eternian. wordpress

22. 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. 25 July 2012. http://serc. carleton

24. Tsunami 2011

25. Could there be a tsunami on the Great Lakes?

26. Has there ever been a tsunami on the Great Lakes?
Occurrence of Tsunami Worldwide. 25 July

27. What ever happened to the basketball?
Alaska Resident Finds Basketball. 22 July

28. Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum
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