Can you turn a globe into a map?
Source/Author: Ms. Waldron
September 11, 2014
Fifth graders had to use their critical thinking and problem solving skills this week in Social Studies. Students were provided with mini-globe beach balls, and asked to use scissors to cut the globe to make a flat map. Without further direction about how or where to cut, students had to work together to come up with creative solutions.
In the end, we discovered that our flat maps were not very accurate tools, and we saw how all flat maps will be distorted versions of the real world in some way, because a sphere cannot be made flat.
In the end, we discovered that our flat maps were not very accurate tools, and we saw how all flat maps will be distorted versions of the real world in some way, because a sphere cannot be made flat.
Gabin S and Julian H decide together how to make some of the first cuts in their globe |
Iona Hudson and Anna Jones carefully sliced their globe into small strips and then pieced it back together |
Emily F and Isabella D plan their next cut |
Michael C and Caden R are discovering that the globe is harder to lay flat than they originally thought. |
Gabriella P and Olivia M try to stretch out their globe that they have cut from the North Pole to the South Pole |