January 9, 2018

LTEC 330 - Dr. Toni Stokes Jones

Teachers Teaching Teachers
Alison McCartney, Sister Juan Jose Sedler

National Geographic MapMaker Interactive

Subject: Geography
Grade level: 7th grade
Lesson length: 45 minute duration

Social Studies Content Standard:

7-G1.2 Geographical Inquiry and Analysis: Use geographic inquiry and analysis to answer
important questions about relationships between people, cultures, their environment, and
relations within the era under study.

ISTE Technology Standard:

Empowered Learner - Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing,
achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning
sciences.

Prerequisite skills
● Basic computer operation skills
● Web browser navigation
● Reading different types of maps

Why use MapMaker Interactive?

MapMaker Interactive is a free online mapping educational resource that has the benefit
of being accessible without an account. It is easy to operate and can be used at the middle
school level. By allowing students to combine various base maps and map layers and to turn
these on or off, similarities and contrasts between different maps are easily noticeable. This
aspect of the program is engaging and gives a concrete understanding of maps as a tool for
analyzing problems.
This technology is able to be integrated into the classroom to analyze important
questions about relationships as a class, and is also able to be accessed outside of school as a
resource for students. This is a more reliable resource for some information because it can be
updated more frequently and is more accessible than paper maps and atlases. Because of its
versatile nature and broad spectrum of data, MapMaker Interactive can empower students to
further and enhance their learning of different topics through the use of this online resources.

How to teach the technology

 Teaching the students to use MapMaker Interactive can be done by demonstrating on a
projector screen how to navigate the website, and having students follow along on their own
computers.
● Go to https://mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org/.
● The teacher will first give examples of base maps and their uses.
● Second, examples of map layers will be given. The teacher must ensure that
students know how to locate these items within the program and how to pull up
different maps on the screen.
● The teacher will then facilitate guided practice examples of map layers to pull up,
allowing students to navigate the website independently
● The teacher will highlight different features of the map, such as the order of
layers and differences in map layer opacity that change the view on the screen.

Problem Solving Activity

Our problem solving activity to accompany the use of this technology will be a map
scavenger hunt called “Map Challenge.” Students will have a list of questions they are required
to answer. Students must select and document the appropriate map for the question, and write
the correct answer in the appropriate boxes on the answer sheet. The different map layers may
be selected and deselected, or they can be added simultaneously and the opacity of each layer
can be changed to view different sets of data.
Students will be demonstrating problem solving in two areas: technology and geography.
Students will be creatively using the different layers and features of the website to derive the
answer to the question. There are multiple ways to use the website and view the maps together
and separately, but the map layer used will be consistent to answer the question. This activity
will be conducted following a lesson on the different kinds of maps and their purposes.
Students will elaborate on their choice of map layer in the activity, gleaning information from the
previous lesson in class.
 Map Challenge
Using Mapmaker Interactive, determine the best map needed to find the answers to following questions.
In the appropriate columns on this sheet, record the map layer you used and your answer to the question
on the left in a full sentence. (3 points each)

Question Map used and why Answer to the question.

1. Which two Map type: India and China are the two most densely
countries are the most populated countries.
densely populated? Population Density

Why:

Answers may vary

2. Which two Map type: Sierra Leone and Liberia receive the
countries in Africa greatest amount of rainfall per year in
receive the greatest Precipitation and Rainfall Africa
amount of rainfall per
year? Why:

Answers may vary

3. Which two Map type: South America and Asia have mountain
continents have ranges over 25,000 feet above sea level.
landforms that exceed Surface Elevation
25000 feet above sea
level? Why:

Answers may vary

4. Which countries Map type: South America, Asia, and Africa all have
have large sections of sections of humid equatorial climate
humid equatorial Climate Zones
climate patterns?
Why:

Answers may vary

5. Population is the Map type: Population is the densest near bodies of

most concentrated water.
near which natural Population Density
resource?
Why:

Answers may vary

Grading Rubric:

Full credit of 15 points will be assigned if students write down the appropriate map to derive the
answer, provide a reason why the map was the optimal choice for the situation, and a write a
correct answer to the question in a full sentence. Other reasonable answers may be acceptable
if they can be explained using the appropriate map to answer the question.