Area Mapping/Map Reading:
I think this may be important to me due to my military experience more than anything else, but I believe that in order to promote a better understanding of how and where pollution may occur based on the correlating location of possible, and known, polluting agents students need to be taught the skills associated with reading both topographic and road/city maps.
Subject: Biology/Ecology
Grade Level: 9th/10th Grade
Lesson Duration: 1-2, 55 min. classes
Objective: Students will know the differences between topographic maps and city/road maps. They will be able to determine the different land masses on topographic maps (hill, ridge, valley, saddle, and depression) and how elevation and land mass type could affect dispersion of pollutants. Students will also be able to determine where they are, or where points of interest are, on city and road grade maps.
Standards:
NGSS Standard - HS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how the appearance of land features (such as mountains, valleys, and plateaus) and sea-floor features (such as trenches, ridges, and seamounts) are a result of both constructive forces (such as volcanism, tectonic uplift, and orogeny) and destructive mechanisms (such as weathering, mass wasting, and coastal erosion).] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include memorization of the details of the formation of specific geographic features of Earth’s surface.]
NGSS Stamdard - HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. [Clarification Statement: Examples should include climate feedbacks, such as how an increase in greenhouse gases causes a rise in global temperatures that melts glacial ice, which reduces the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth's surface, increasing surface temperatures and further reducing the amount of ice. Examples could also be taken from other system interactions, such as how the loss of ground vegetation causes an increase in water runoff and soil erosion; how dammed rivers increase groundwater recharge, decrease sediment transport, and increase coastal erosion; or how the loss of wetlands causes a decrease in local humidity that further reduces the wetland extent.]
Materials:
Pens/Pencils
Paper/Lab Notebooks
Topographic Maps of local and non-local areas
Road/City maps of local and non-local areas
smart-board/overhead projector
computer/internet
Assessment: Informal assessment based on participation in classes. Students who are actively engaged in the classroom video and discussion. Group participation as actual map reading and learning occurs will also be counted here. Visual and auditory assessment throughout the class periods will gauge this participation at both the individual and group levels.
Formal Assessment will occur through lab book analysis and grading using the rubric for lab notes/notebook under the "Curriculum" link.
Procedure: Begin with a Bell Ringer about maps and map types. Talk about the different types and how topographic/geographic maps differ from road maps. Introduce the video:
Subject: Biology/Ecology
Grade Level: 9th/10th Grade
Lesson Duration: 1-2, 55 min. classes
Objective: Students will know the differences between topographic maps and city/road maps. They will be able to determine the different land masses on topographic maps (hill, ridge, valley, saddle, and depression) and how elevation and land mass type could affect dispersion of pollutants. Students will also be able to determine where they are, or where points of interest are, on city and road grade maps.
Standards:
NGSS Standard - HS-ESS2-1. Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how the appearance of land features (such as mountains, valleys, and plateaus) and sea-floor features (such as trenches, ridges, and seamounts) are a result of both constructive forces (such as volcanism, tectonic uplift, and orogeny) and destructive mechanisms (such as weathering, mass wasting, and coastal erosion).] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include memorization of the details of the formation of specific geographic features of Earth’s surface.]
NGSS Stamdard - HS-ESS2-2. Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth's surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems. [Clarification Statement: Examples should include climate feedbacks, such as how an increase in greenhouse gases causes a rise in global temperatures that melts glacial ice, which reduces the amount of sunlight reflected from Earth's surface, increasing surface temperatures and further reducing the amount of ice. Examples could also be taken from other system interactions, such as how the loss of ground vegetation causes an increase in water runoff and soil erosion; how dammed rivers increase groundwater recharge, decrease sediment transport, and increase coastal erosion; or how the loss of wetlands causes a decrease in local humidity that further reduces the wetland extent.]
Materials:
Pens/Pencils
Paper/Lab Notebooks
Topographic Maps of local and non-local areas
Road/City maps of local and non-local areas
smart-board/overhead projector
computer/internet
Assessment: Informal assessment based on participation in classes. Students who are actively engaged in the classroom video and discussion. Group participation as actual map reading and learning occurs will also be counted here. Visual and auditory assessment throughout the class periods will gauge this participation at both the individual and group levels.
Formal Assessment will occur through lab book analysis and grading using the rubric for lab notes/notebook under the "Curriculum" link.
Procedure: Begin with a Bell Ringer about maps and map types. Talk about the different types and how topographic/geographic maps differ from road maps. Introduce the video:
Show this video in class (~10 min.)
Have lab groups form and retrieve 1 topographic map and 1 road/city map.
The lab teams must find different locations on each map as well as determine where different types of land masses occur.
Let the teams discuss their learning and findings.
In class work and homework is to think about how these landmasses and/or street locations could affect pollution at all levels, water, air, soil, etc. Why would these landmasses and locations affect pollution distribution both +/-? Request that students write their finding, musings, questions, and learning in their notebooks along with the class work/map reading questions.
This is a PDF of one example worksheet related to topographic maps...yours will change based on the maps you use in class.
Have lab groups form and retrieve 1 topographic map and 1 road/city map.
The lab teams must find different locations on each map as well as determine where different types of land masses occur.
Let the teams discuss their learning and findings.
In class work and homework is to think about how these landmasses and/or street locations could affect pollution at all levels, water, air, soil, etc. Why would these landmasses and locations affect pollution distribution both +/-? Request that students write their finding, musings, questions, and learning in their notebooks along with the class work/map reading questions.
This is a PDF of one example worksheet related to topographic maps...yours will change based on the maps you use in class.