Starter quiz
- What shape is Earth?
- a flat circle
- a square
- a three-dimensional sphere ✓
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- What is the Equator?
- The line that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. ✓
- The line that separates Earth’s land and water.
- The highest point on Earth.
- The line that marks the boundary between different time zones.
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- What is the purpose of latitude and longitude?
- to locate places on Earth ✓
- to measure time
- to predict weather
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- Why do we use maps?
- to create art
- to represent geographical information ✓
- to tell stories
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- The Tropic of ______ is north of the Equator.
- 'Cancer' ✓
- The Tropic of __________ is south of the Equator.
- Capricorn ✓
- Leo
- Cancer
- Aries
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Exit quiz
- What is the main purpose of a map projection?
- to measure distances accurately
- to predict climate change
- to represent Earth on a flat surface ✓
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- What is a cartographer?
- someone who makes maps ✓
- someone who measures the land
- someone who reads maps
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- In the Mercator projection, line of latitude and longitude are all ...
- straight ✓
- curved
- reversed
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- Most of the world maps that we see are drawn so that which continent is central?
- Europe ✓
- North America
- Africa
- Antarctica
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The representation of Earth on a globe shows landmasses in the correct shape and relative size.
- World maps project the spherical world (three dimensions) on to a flat surface (two dimensions).
- Some projections distort shape, others distort latitude and/or longitude.
Common misconception
Maps are always accurate.
Maps are never completely accurate.
Keywords
Map projection - the representation of an approximately spherical world as a flat map, necessarily involving distortion
Two-dimensional - something that is flat - its dimensions are height (top to bottom) and width (side to side)
Three-dimensional - something that is solid - its dimensions are height (top to bottom), width (side to side) and depth (front to back)
Topography - the study of the landforms and features of land surfaces
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