Page 163 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

CHAPTER 6 How Can I Teach Geography and Anthropology Powerfully? 135
learning activities suggested for use at your grade level. Rather than wall these off from the rest of the curriculum by teaching them in isolated skills exercises, you might find places where at least some of them could be attached to lessons that would provide authentic opportunities for using the skills being developed.
Frequent reference to maps and globes in the context of the five fundamental themes of geography will help children construct a network of basic generalizations to anchor their understandings of the social world. They should understand, for example, that the climate becomes cooler and eventually colder as one moves away from the equator toward the poles or upward from sea level toward mountain tops; that shipping and fish- ing are important industries in coastal and island communities; that farming is a major activity in parts of the world that feature rich soil and mild climates; that extraction industries are emphasized in areas that are rich in coal, copper, oil, or other underground resources; that populations tend to be dense in greenbelts but sparse in deserts or polar areas; and so on. They also should develop a sense of ways that humans have overcome or compensated for geographical constraints by altering land forms (e.g., building canals, tunneling through mountains, constructing dams) or developing specialized technology (irrigation in dry areas) or knowledge-based industries (e.g., Swiss watch making, Japa- nese electronics).
Early map work with children should include opportunities for them to construct maps, not just answer questions about or color in portions of supplied maps. Developing a schematic map of a small surface such as a table or desktop (on which a few items have been strategically placed) will help them understand that maps offer a bird’s-eye perspec- tive from above and that symbols or geometric shapes are used to represent salient fea- tures. Subsequent construction of maps of their rooms at home, of the classroom or school, the playground, and so forth will help them acquire other basic understandings such as that maps are representations constructed with particular purposes in mind; that they are constructed to scale, so that the relative sizes of the included features and the distances between them correspond to those in the real world; and that map makers help readers interpret the maps by including a compass rose (typically but not always indicating that the map is oriented with north at the top) and a legend that explains the meanings of symbols.
To build understandings and skills in using maps to orient oneself and note relevant directions and distances, you can use maps of the school or neighborhood. For variety, use maps of places that are popular with children, such as zoos, shopping malls, or amuse- ment parks. Frequent reference to maps and globes in the process of teaching about places and events that come up in the curriculum will help students learn that maps provide representations of a broad range of geographic information and therefore are useful for addressing a broad range of geographic questions, not just for planning trips. Children can be helped to appreciate this by viewing and engaging in activities built around the maps used in television weather reports; plotting the origins and movements of their own families on maps; or by studying and discussing the implications of maps showing such things as where the population is increasing or decreasing, where certain key products are developed and exported or must be imported, and so on (Haas, 2001).
Also, as a way to build interest in geography and develop basic geographical knowl- edge and skills, teachers who use centers in their classrooms should include one or more for geography. Center activity is most effective when the tasks enhance what is developed during large group instruction. Students should be given opportunities to engage in higher order thinking and apply what they are learning. These centers might, for exam- ple, include book-, map-, and photo-based activities on world nations or regions, tourist destinations, sites of recent natural disasters, or other current events as well as software- based activities such as the popular Carmen Sandiego series or simulated travel programs
Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.