April Fools' Map Available from Ball State University Libraries

Skates or States? April Fools’ Map Activity from Ball State University Libraries

The Ball State University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) creates custom cartographic resources for K-12 classroom teachers, including lesson plans, cartographic games, tutorials, and custom maps like the April Fools’ Map (above, click to enlarge).  Teachers can access the Cardinal Scholar institutional repository to print off and use many of these available resources from the GRMC for education and learning.

To find all of the available resources in Cardinal Scholar, click on “Browse by Communities and Collections.”  Scroll down to the Information Technology section:  The GRMC will be listed under “University Libraries.”  From the GRMC page, click on “browse by title.”  A list of resources including maps, posters, lesson plan ideas, and classroom activities will appear.  A search by subject or keyword is also available.  The GRMC is constantly updating the educational resources, so check for new additions from time to time.

Teachers can click on the title of the resource and save it for use in the classroom.  The lessons range in scope and grade level.  A lesson plan guide, Teaching with Maps, provides sample maps and lessons for teachers of social studies, science, English, and economics.  Other guides available from Cardinal Scholar including cartographic guides on women’s history, Black history, using Sanborn insurance maps in the history classroom, maps and map projections, and genealogy resources.

The April Fools’ map features labels of cities, states, lakes, crops, abbreviations, and mottoes that are incorrectly placed around the United States.  The map provides a good review of basic United States geography, and an answer sheet is included in the PDF file on Cardinal Scholar.

For more information about using Cardinal Scholar or any of the teaching materials, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.