This paper explores the strategy of using maps to shape students understanding in relation to geographic concepts. The thematic maps and the clear sheet overlays were developed so that students could have an experience with geography that was much more tangible. This strategy allows for students to take a hands on look into geographic concepts in order to develop their own islands with physical features that flow together well. This strategy proved to be beneficial for students because it allowed for a deeper understanding of these concepts due to the nature of the activity.
Geography has always been subject that can be routinely glossed over in today’s curriculum. For students, without visuals and maps, geographic concepts may not make very much sense to them. The literacy strategy being explored in this paper is the use of transparent sheets which are then placed over top of thematic maps in order to scaffold the development of knowledge about the placement of physical features. This lesson was created to help students learn more about concepts in geography related to the placement of physical features on land masses.
In past classes, the teacher in the study, Nancy, had has experience with student work that ended up with physical features being placed in random places on their projects(Binkley, Keiser, & Strahan, n.d., p. 145). The results of implementing this strategy were well developed islands and landmasses that contained relevant information related the student’s islands. For geography, the use of maps helped students discern where to place their physical features on their islands. It also allowed for students to gain knowledge about geographic concepts within the social studies discipline in which maps are analyzed if they pertain to specific historical events.
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The teacher being highlighted in the study, had collaborated with a group of university professors and literacy professionals in order to create an activity that would help her students develop a better understanding geographic concepts. The activity was created for this specific teacher, so the idea seems to be entirely original. For any teacher, as said in the article entitled, bringing the “Social” back to social studies, “Building curriculum around big ideas in history allows students to construct deep understandings of content in meaningful and relevant ways” (MacPhee & Whitecotton, 2001, p. 265). This activity that was built around physical features and their placement is a big idea for students and the curriculum that the teacher and her colleagues created was truly built around that big idea. The knowledge about physical features that students had gained through this strategy would be used in order to create their own islands (Binkley, Keiser, & Strahan, n.d., p. 145).
This island would include various physical features, where they would realistically be placed, and time zones for their islands. (Binkley, Keiser, & Strahan, n.d., p. 145). This strategy is something that works well in order to prepare students for work in the 21st century. This activity can be used in conjunction with an activity that involves the use of global positioning software, or GPS if it is a 1:1 school where every students has their own personal device (Kay, 2009, p. 46). This could then expand the students’ knowledge not only about geography, but also about technology. The students would then be able to use applications on the IPad in order to create their projects for their geography class rather than creating their landmasses on paper.
If used in another classroom, One drawback to this technique would be is that strategy was not used in a classroom with any English language learners or ELLs. The students who are English Language Learners may require additional support or scaffolding strategies in order for them to complete the assignment and gain a deeper understanding of its concepts. If the school that this strategy is being used in has a 1:1 program, then google translate would be a good resource that could be used to help students who are ELLs understand the concepts. The students could translate words that they have difficulty with and you as the teacher would help to scaffold their learning with different strategies. As the teacher, there are also many resources available and one of those resources is the ELL teacher, who could provide specific information about each student and what strategy might work well for them.
This mapping strategy is more specifically linked to geography which falls into the social studies category. The strategy uses maps as a way to make geography more tangible for students, however it is not a strategy that has to be specifically linked to geography. This strategy can be adapted to fit a multitude of different disciplines. This strategy could be used in a science classroom, and in a language arts classroom. For science, the students could use these maps in order to diagram where certain animals and plants would be in relation to the physical features that are found to be present on the landscape of a certain place. For language arts, the maps can be used to show detail within a story or to help a student create a setting within a story that they would be writing for class.
This strategy is also beneficial for those diverse learners because it does not have to involve any concepts that can cause students to become upset. For those students that have diverse skillsets, the strategy can be easily adapted so that each learners needs are met. If the student needs more instruction or needs guided notes, these can be given to the student in order to help them succeed. Although this strategy was used in a classroom composed mostly of gifted students, it showed great promise in challenging the lower level students to grasp more complex concepts within the classroom as well (Binkley, Keiser, & Strahan, n.d., p. 147). This strategy helped to challenge not only her gifted students, but also her lower level students and that is why it meets the needs for the diverse learners that are in every classroom. A part of those needs, is making sure that the classroom is also culturally responsive.
For the students, the lesson was culturally responsive because, there were high expectations placed upon the students. The teacher conducting the lesson explained what she wanted from her students in terms of behavior and their graded work. As the class discussion developed, the teacher believed that the students rose to the challenge because they had to defend their work. The students took that in stride and rose to the occasion in order to defend why they placed their landforms in the way that they did. The teacher also allowed for her students to have discussions about the geographic concepts which was then much more student led. In order to encourage higher order thinking, she also answered the student’s questions with more questions about their work and the information that they heard (Binkley, Keiser, & Strahan, n.d., p. 147). In order to prepare her students for these projects she also showed PowerPoints and provided directions throughout the unit (Binkley, Keiser, & Strahan, n.d., p. 146).
