grapefruit (one per student or pair of students); an orange could be used in place of the grapefruit
a knife for cutting into the grapefruit and removing its skin
permanent black marker
Lesson Plan
Students might complete this lesson in pairs.
In a Christian Scienc Monitor article, How Can We Fix the World If We Can't Read a Map, David J. Smith, author of If the World Were a Village and Mapping the World by Heart, presents a simple activity for introducing students to the concept of map projections.
To paraphrase the article, here is the "grapefruit lesson" idea that Smith shared:
Provide each students with a grapefruit.
Challenge students to think of the grapefruit as Earth.
Identify and mark on the grapefruit the locations of the North Pole and South Pole.
Then locate the spot that is halfway between the two poles and use a marker to draw a line around the Earth at that point, which geographers refer to as the equator.
Draw a few lines of longitude on the map.
Then draw shapes to represent the continents on Earth.
Use a knife to pierce the skin of the grapefruit, then use your fingers to get under the skin to peel it off the grapefruit. Try to keep as much of the "globe" intact as possible.
Next, challenge students to create from the sphere (grapefruit) a map that is flat and readable. Alas, as students attempt to create their flat, readable maps they come to understand the difficulty that geographers have in creating an accurate flat representation of Earth. There are many map projections of Earth…
Mapping
Mars
A middle school lesson plan from National Geographic.
Assessment
Have students write in their journals a reflective response about what
they learned from this lesson. Check for understanding of the concepts
taught.
Lesson Plan Source
EducationWorld.com
Submitted By
Gary Hopkins
National Standards
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
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Map Projections: The Grapefruit Activity