This detailed mapping activity will get your students involved in observing your community, reflecting, mapping, analyzing, refining, and planning for future action.
It is meant to be a multi-day or week-long project and will provide students with a learning path that results in increased community awareness and mapping skills.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This project includes several options for extension and will work with students at various levels.
This inquiry approach to learning is extremely engaging.
Additional Prerequisites
A free 60-day trial to arcgis.com is necessary to complete a map on the site.
Physical materials needed include: markers or crayons, large sheets of white paper, glue or tape, stickers, a community map, and a camera or photos of your community.
Differentiation
This resource would work equally well in a science or social studies class; a creative idea would to be to work together between science and social studies classrooms to complete this project and the ensuing environmental campaign together.
Cross-curricular connections could be made in art classes by adding more artistic components to the mapping project and creating art to get the community involved in future campaigns.
This project would work well as a whole group project for smaller classes or as a large group project for larger class sizes. Students will likely need to work together over several classes in order to complete the mapping activity.
Scientist Notes
Students will be equipped with fundamental mapping skills using Esri and the ArcGIS web-based mapping tool. It is ideal for them to create a project or activity, then use their mapping skills to proffer environmental solutions in their community. This is highly recommended for classroom use.
Standards
Social Studies
Geography
Geography 1 (F1): Students understand the geography of the community, Maine, the United States, and various regions of the world, and geographic influences on life in the past, present, and future by using the geographic grid and a variety of types of maps, including digital sources, to locate and access relevant geographic information that reflects multiple perspectives.
Geography 1 (D3): Students understand the geography of the United States and various regions of the world and the effect of geographic influences on decisions about the present and future by describing the major regions of the Earth and their major physical, environmental, and cultural features using a variety of geographic tools, including digital tools and resources.
