Education Resources Available from Ball State University Libraries Cardinal Scholar

Learning with Maps: Using University Libraries Resources in the K-12 Classroom

Teachers and education students can now access classroom activities from the Ball State University Libraries Cardinal Scholar institutional repository located at http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/ or from the main University Libraries Web page. The Geospatial Resources & Map Collection in Bracken Library created several original lesson plans using maps, atlases, and other cartographic resources. These lessons are part of an online guide, Teaching with Maps: Lesson Plan Guide from the Geospatial Resources and Map Collection, located at http://www.bsu.edu/library/article/0,,54747--,00.html. The lessons cover grades K-12 and a number of different subjects. Activities from the lessons are now stored in the Cardinal Scholar depository, allowing teachers and education students online access to original games, worksheets, and posters to use in the classroom.

These activities can be used in their original form or adapted for different ages of students. In one of the lessons, students use a National Geographic map of the Amazon River basin to create an alphabet book about the rain forest. Teachers could use the sample book provided to inspire students to create a similar book; or teachers could use another map to create an alphabet book about the Australian Outback, the Grand Canyon, or Siberia or China. The posters available on Cardinal Scholar can be printed in small or large format, so teachers may wish to use the large-format plotters in the GRMC for printing.

Posters and other activities used in previous events (Black History Month, Veterans Day) are also available from Cardinal Scholar, and users can also access the GRMC online tutorials about maps through the repository. From the Cardinal Scholar home page, click on “Browse by creator” on the left, and scroll down to the Geospatial Resources and Map Collection to access a complete list of available resources.

Cardinal Scholar is available as a repository for all members of the Ball State University community. For more information, please contact the Archives and Special Collections at 765/285-5078. For more information about the lesson plans, please contact the GRMC at 765/285-1097.