How to teach Longitude and Latitude - A Conversation

Conversations: This is my way of starting a dialogue with readers, teachers, etc... I'll start the conversation with a suggestion/idea, and then I'd like the comments to be filled with YOUR IDEAS.

Please use this as an exchange to trade and share lesson ideas...


If you're like me, then you understand the importance of maps in teaching world history.  There is not a unit that goes by without my using a map or studying the geography of a certain place. 

Map skills and geography are an essential part to truly understanding world history.  Just knowing the geographic make-up of a certain culture will allow students to understand, why the culture developed the way it did, and give a deeper understanding of the development of that region.  For example, in studying Greece it is vital to understand that the Greeks (Minoans and Mycenaeans)  were a coastal people who had a very mountainous and rocky terrain.  Because of this, they were excellent fisherman and developed vast networks of trade to import wheat and grains.  This is best learned by looking at maps and studying the landforms in and around Greece. 

But what can be challenging sometimes is teaching the simple concepts of Longitude and Latitude, and having the students understand its importance.   (Can't we just use GoogleMaps? or "Then why do we have GPS?")

http://video.about.com/geography/Latitude-and-Longitude.htm

Maybe watch the video... have kids take notes.
Watch the video again and discuss.
Then do some kind of activity where they implement the knowledge they've gained.  But what kind of activity can you do that has purpose?

Since something like this is most beneficial early in the year, I'd suggest having students find out where their ancestors are from.  (Germany, Liberia, Dominican Republic, Russia, Ireland, etc...)
Then have them give coordinates for their places of origin.  And then map it. 

Simple enough, but an even better idea would be to then create a world map for the entire class or classes.  Students love to see where they're from and how many other students share their culture.  Then continue by turning it into a culture lesson.  Find similarities and differences between each student's backgrounds.


National Geographic (naturally..) has a good activity: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/01/gk2/longlat.html
This is not a bad idea for middle schoolers: http://www.ideatestbed.com/longitude/webquest.shtml


How do you teach Longitude and Latitude?

The Ends of the World as We Know Them - Why Civilizations Collapse

Jared Diamond, probably best known for his best-selling book Guns, Germs and Steel has ideas on what forces some civilizations to collapse and others to prosper.  His main theme of GG&S was wrapped around the idea of geographic luck.

Geographic luck wrestles with the idea that civilizations in certain places were able to advance and prosper because of the natural resources available to them.  Some cultures were never able to overcome their primitive ways and couldn't be part of the Neolithic Revolution, because they didn't have the ability to cultivate crops and domesticate animals because the climate and/or animals needed to do so, just weren't available to them.

His theory for the collapse of civilizations could follow that same path... it deviates slightly however.  Diamond believes there are outliers, and geography isn't the only thing to make or brake a civilization, but many of his five interacting factors leading to a collapse are geography based.

1. Damage that people have inflicted on their environment;
2. Climate change
3. Enemies
4. Changes in friendly trading partners
5.The society's political, economic and social responses to these shifts. 

It is factor #5 which is most important, as this is the crux the determines a civilization's fate.   I haven't read Diamond's book on the subject, but have discussed his theory in class with my students. 

We read this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/01/opinion/01diamond.html?_r=3&pagewanted=print&position=

...and then had them answer some discussion questions.  It worked well enough to explore the theory further and modify it for next year.  

In class we're currently studying the fall of Rome and comparing its factors to the modern day United States.   I was impressed when some of the students used Diamond's theory to support some of their own thoughts on the fall of the Roman Empire.