Ball State University Libraries Provide Cartographic Resources for the Classroom

Elijah of Buxton, Educational Technology and Resources Collection 

Putting Children’s Books on the Map:  Social Studies Students Using Cartography in the Classroom

Ball State University social studies teaching students are learning to create maps based on children’s books.  Students in Dr. Dorshell Stewart’s Social Studies 397 classes, Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary School, are collaborating on a cartography project that they can use in their future classrooms.

The staff of the University Libraries’ GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) provided an instructional session for the students, showing them how to create custom maps using online mapping and design software.  Students working in groups then chose a popular children’s book featuring a story or biography of a person whose life could be mapped.  Then the maps are incorporated into a lesson plan teaching history or geography in coordination with the book.  Students chose biographies of Marian Anderson, Amelia Earhart, and John Adams and books about the Underground Railroad and other historical events.

The students can print large copies of their maps using the large-format plotters in the GRMC.  And the large laminator will preserve the maps for use in the classroom for years to come.  

For more information about creating custom cartographic resources for the classroom, please contact the GRMC at 765-285-1097.