Curated OER
Cartography
Students follow directions to draw a map of an island. They complete the island map adding their own details using symbols and a legend.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Career Profile:cartographers and Photogrammetrists
Cartographers and photogrammetrists--big words for careers in mapping, both 2-D and 3-D. Watch interviews with people who use their expertise in geographic information to help make policy decisions. This Science Buddies site lays out the...
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Making Species Maps
Conservation biologists know which places are important to protect. How nature guides know which animals can be found in which places, are made possible partly by conservation biology. This experiment allows you to discover how maps can...
Other
The Smithsonian: Lewis & Clark: Mapping the West
The Smithsonian's EdGate project provides this illustrated narrative site that explores the mapping of the American West accomplished by the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark expedition.
Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory: My County Tis of Thee: Counties of Virginia
A lesson in how to use historical maps to identify Virginia's counties and learn the political geography of Virginia.
National Geographic
National Geographic: Mapmaker Interactive
Interactive map maker in which students can manipulate world maps adding layers and data with multiple sources of information.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Bridging World History: Maps, Time, and World History
Learn how map projections and chronological constructs are used in the study of world history and help us to understand and interpret the past. Part of a larger site on world history, this unit on maps offers complete reading,...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Map Making
First graders will study a map of their school and then create a map of their classroom.
PBS
Pbs Wisconsin Education: Into the Map
In this learning module, students will explore the world of geography by creating and analyzing maps.
Library of Congress
Loc: Local History: Mapping My Spot
Students often think of history as tattered documents, worn photographs, and musty books, all of which have little or no relevance to their lives. Maps provide an often-overlooked source of information and a new and compelling...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Epa: Enviro Mapper Store Front
Lets kids create their own maps, down to the square mile, anywhere in America, choosing various features from water discharges to hazardous waste to roads.
US Geological Survey
U.s. Geological Survey: Map Your Schoolyard
Lesson plan introduces the concept of maps while providing a forum to practice the skill of navigating using a map.
Library of Virginia
Virginia Memory: Historical Maps With a Modern Use
How can we use historical maps to strengthen our mental maps of the modern world?
American Geosciences Institute
American Geosciences Institute: Earth Science Week: Map Making Basics
This activity will help learners discover some features as they create a geologic map.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Nidy Gridy
Normally we find things using landmark navigation. When you move to a new place, it may take you awhile to explore the new streets and buildings, but eventually you recognize enough landmarks and remember where they are in relation to...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Lesson Plan: Fairy Tale Maps
Lesson designed to introduce maps and the cardinal directions. After listening to the teacher read aloud or tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood, students retell the story and use cutouts of landmarks and arrows to create a map of...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Lesson Plan: Map Trap
Lesson to reinforce maps skills and concepts. Students map locations around their school and use world maps to locate major landmarks.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Lesson Plan: Maps and Me
Lesson to reinforce basic map skills. Students discuss Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney, work in groups to create maps of the classroom, and use these maps to hunt for treasure.
NASA
Nasa: Space Place: Make a Topographic Map
Find out what topographic maps are and how to make them. The instructions are complete with pictures to help you construct a mountain of clay and and a corresponding topographic map.
TOPS Learning Systems
Top Science: Treasure Map [Pdf]
An activity where students construct a 3-D scene using lentils and props, and bury a coin in it. They then create a map showing the location of the buried coin. This lesson from TOPScience gives clear instructions on how to use this...
Volunteer Voices
Volunteer Voices: Mapmaking [Pdf]
In this lesson plan students will explore the mapmaking craft, examine the Lewis and Clark maps,identify and apply mapmaking techniques and tools.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Mn Step: Student Created Landform Maps With Glacial Emphasis
An activity where students work together to make topographic maps of a local park. The map must include a key and the grid locations of landforms in the park.