Return to Map Lessons: The Route to Improved Geography Skills

Subjects Educational Technology Mathematics Measurement Science Space Science Social Studies Geography

Grades 3-5 6-8 9-12

Brief Description Students use maps to identify the ten cities highlighted on an image of Earth at night as seen from space. Objectives Students will identify the seven continents on a map image of Earth as seen from space. use map resources to identify ten selected cities on the Earth at Night map work sheet. Keywords map, Earth, space, night, population, countries, cities, country, city, continent, satellite Materials Needed world maps from a variety of sources (textbooks, atlases, encyclopedia, online sources, and more) Earth at Night work sheet Lesson Plan In this lesson, students use maps to identify places on a map image of the world at night taken from space. The work sheet that accompanies the lesson is intended for use in grades 3-6. Teachers of older students might print out the activity and mark ten additional locations for their students to identify. If you have a projector attached to a classroom computer, you might introduce students to the map of Earth at Night that was taken from space. Following are several sources of that map: Earth at Night Earth City’s Lights Earth Lights at Night Astronomy Picture of the Day Have students identify the continents on the Earth at Night map. Can they pinpoint the location of their city or town? Then hand out to students the Earth at Night work sheet. Challenge students to use maps they find in their textbooks, encyclopedia, atlases, or online to identify the names of the ten large cities highlighted on the work sheet. You might extend the lesson by looking at other maps of Earth from space. See a resource on the NASA Web site, The Blue Marble. Discuss what features of Earth those other maps show that cannot be seen in the Earth at Night map. Assessment Work sheet answers: 1. San Diego (California, USA); 2. Santiago (Chile); 3. Boston (Massachusetts, USA); 4. Miami (Florida, USA); 5. Madrid (Spain); 6. Paris (France); 7. Cape Town (South Africa); 8. Bangkok (Thailand); 9. Tokyo (Japan); 10. Sidney/Canberra (New South Wales, Australia). Lesson Plan Source Education World Submitted By Gary Hopkins National Standards MATHEMATICS: Measurement GRADES 3 - 5 NM-MEA.3-5.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements GRADES 6 - 8 NM-MEA.6-8.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements GRADES 9 - 12 NM-MEA.9-12.2 Apply Appropriate Techniques, Tools, and Formulas to Determine Measurements SCIENCE GRADES K - 4 NS.K-4.4 Earth and Space Science GRADES 5 - 8 NS.5-8.4 Earth and Space Science GRADES 9 - 12 NS.9-12.4 Earth and Space Science SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography GRADES K - 12 NSS-G.K-12.1 The World in Spatial Terms NSS-G.K-12.2 Places and Regions NSS-G.K-12.5 Environment and Society TECHNOLOGY GRADES K - 12 NT.K-12.5 Technology Research tools See more geography lesson plans and resources in Education World’s Geography Center. Click to return to Map Lessons: The Route to Improved Geography Skills. 11/08/2002