World affairs: atlas.

• Position: INTERNATIONAL

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LESSON PLAN 3

CRITICAL THINKING

As a class, brainstorm the many purposes of maps. Aside from helping us find locations, understand geographic relationships, and explore topography, maps can offer insights into the way people live and why events occur.

* Look at the economic map of the world. What conclusions can you draw from it?

* Now look at the map of the Middle East. Identify key map features [Latitude and longitude demarcations, the compass rose, the key). Then identify topographical elements [mountain ranges, bodies of water, etc.). What types of questions can an atlas help answer?

WRITING PROMPT

Write an essay about geography and wealth by comparing the information on the economic map and on the atlas pages. What patterns do you see? Use almanac statistics to support your ideas,

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Near what geographical feature are almost art of the African capitals located? [a waterway]

Why might this be? (fertile land, passages for trade, use of water to generate power)

Look at the map of Asia. Why are there comparatively few cities identified in Eastern Asia? What might this tell us about its people and cultures?

What geographical feature do North America and South America share, and why? [mountainous west coasts; they follow the tectonic plates)

Look at the borders of countries. What geographic features determine some of them? [rivers, mountains, etc.) What do straight borders often mean? [Borders were determined for political reasons.)

FAST FACT

Spanish explorer Juan de la Cosa created the first known map of the New World in 1500.

WEB WATCH

www.worldatlas.com

WorldAtlas.com provides numerous maps and graphics particularly useful, to teachers and students.

QUIZ 3 INTERNATIONAL

WORLD AFFAIRS: ATLAS (OPEN BOOK)

1 Five Communist countries remain: China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and this country, Vietnam's neighbor to the west. --

2 The Suez Canal connects the -- Sea and the -- Sea.

3 In October, 33 Chilean miners who had been trapped underground for 67 days were rescued. Their mine was about 500 miles north of Santiago, south of this major circle of latitude. --

4 About 40 percent of the world's cocoa is grown in -- the country between Liberia and Ghana. Child slavery and other abuses have been reported there.

5 Montenegro, the country most recently admitted to the U.N., borders this body of water. --

6 Iran's topography is extremely mountainous, with the -- Mountains to the north and the -- Mountains to...