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Photographic Map Studies

Karen Ruth Burns
Richland Elementary School, Richland, Michigan

Subject: Social Studies
Grade: 2

"In all my 11 years of teaching map studies, I've always wanted a unit like this for my students, but I've not had the financial resources to do it."

Purpose and Description of Project

Karen Ruth Burns used still photographs -- both ground level and aerial -- in combination with map drawings and use of compasses to help her second-graders gain an understanding of how maps relate to the real world and how they are developed.

After the children learned how to use a 35 mm camera, teacher and students went on walking tours of the nearby village to choose the building each wanted to use as a focus for his or her map study project. The teacher commissioned a photographer to take aerial photos-from tree-top level and from about 1,500 feet-of the same areas.

Using these photographs, drawings, and a variety of maps, the children were then able to point out the location of their chosen buildings and decribe the relationship among the different representations of the same area. They also constructed several displays featuring the maps and photos matching locations with pins and strings.

Burns found that this method of teaching map skills greatly increased student motivation and understanding.

Activities

Burns demonstrated camera use during a self-awareness unit in social studies. The children took pictures of each other, cropped and mounted the photos, and constructed books titled "My Book About Me," which included current and baby pictures plus a story comparing themselves as babies and now.

In two walks to the village, the students chose buildings, took photographs, made drawings, and wrote about "their" buildings. They were assisted by a photographer who also helped each child develop his or her photograph. The photos were then mounted and labeled, and each child gave a presentation before the class.

The children then put up a series of displays in the school hallway. The displays sequentially compared the children's drawings to the artist's map, their photos to the same map, and their photos to a smaller line-adaption map. The aerial photos were used in the classroom to show the relationship between the two maps. Also during this time, the students made their own maps (based on the artist's map) and learned to use directional compasses in conjunction with their maps.

Materials, Resources, and Expenses

Human resources were the photographer, plus parents who assisted during the village tours. Equipment included a 35 mm camera with 50 mm f 1.7 lens, the high school darkroom, 24 directional compasses, and an opaque projector for map enlargement. The project also involved hiring an ultralight plane, from which the photographer took the aerial shots. Materials included two rolls of KODACOLOR Film, five rolls of KODAK TRI-X Film, 50 sheets of KODAK POLYCONTRAST RC Paper, a sheet of mounting board, tracing paper, and spray mount.

Outcomes and Adaptability

Burns reports that the children have learned about photography and how to relate real stores, homes, and schools to the map versions of the same places. By starting with groundlevel photos and relating them to where the photographer was standing, Burns thinks she was able to give the children a foundation for moving (photographically) to tree-top level and then to a long aerial view while still being able to pick out familiar landmarks. The two key elements to this teaching method, she says, are the use of well-known referents and of photography.

This project could be tailored to any area, advises the teacher and could be adapted to older students by having them draw their own maps from scratch and requiring more detail work. She also believes that such photo-based studies could be useful in many areas of the curriculum, including geography, geology, construction, and art.

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