Title: Mapping the Classroom  | National Geographic Society
Headings: Mapping the Classroom
Mapping the Classroom
Informal Assessment
Extending the Learning
Tips & Modifications

Content: These include the classroom map outline, paper shapes for furniture, and sticky notes with students’ names. In Practice
Find resources that show best teaching practices and example student outcomes for this activity. Picture of Practice
Mapping the Classroom
Background Information
Learning to use and create maps builds students’ spatial thinking skills as well as language skills in the early years. Spatial thinking is important for students to develop as they connect the “why of where” in geography, Earth and environmental sciences, and history. Spatial thinking is also positively correlated with success in math and science, as it involves knowing and understanding spatial concepts and relations, how we represent those concepts and relations in different ways, and also how we can reason with spatial information. Students who acquire robust spatial thinking skills will be at an advantage in our increasingly global and technological society and will also build a foundation for analyzing environmental issues and challenges. Prior Knowledge
None
Recommended Prior Activities
None
Vocabulary
language skills
Noun
skills including conventions of standard English, knowledge of language, and vocabulary acquisition and use. location
Noun
position of a particular point on the surface of the Earth. map
Noun
symbolic representation of selected characteristics of a place, usually drawn on a flat surface. map skills
Noun
skills for reading and interpreting maps, from learning basic map conventions to analyzing and comprehending maps to address higher-order goals.