TEACHER RESOURCES

• continue the exploration through he rest of this book.
• be challenged regarding their assumptions about the world.

• understand that a map is only ONE point of view, ONE perspective.
  be aware that all maps are inherently biased.
• discover some of the purposes for which maps are created.
• be able to identify that the Mercator projection's exclusive purpose is for navigation.
• recognize the extreme size distortions of the Mercator.
• become exposed to cartographic concepts like "great circles," "generalization" and "conformality."
• understand how the shortest distance between two points (on the Mercator) is NOT a straight line.
• understand how shapes can be changed depending upon your perspective or frame of reference.

• understand how the value of a map depends upon the degree to which it serves its intended purpose.
• be able to explain how map projection works (simple explanation of light bulb inside a cylinder).
• be able to explain how the "orange peel" phenomenon creates distortions as we
• move from a round globe to a flat map.
• be able to explain an equal-area map, and how equal area projections
  necessitate shape distortions.
• be able to explain how any one projection cannot contain both true shape and true area.
• become exposed to cartographic concepts like "graticule," "gores" and
  "azimuthal."
• understand how the Peters projection (1973) was an extension of the work of other cartographers (Lambert, 1772; and Gall, 1885; and others).
• understand that there are numerous options for equal-area maps.
  be introduced to the concept of "compromise" projections.

Chapter 3: Unpacking the Map

• be able to explain the concept of an equidistant projection.
• be able to explain why some people consider the Mercator a "terrible" map.
• be able to explain why the Mercator is such a popular map.
• understand how the Mercator has become an icon of Western superiority.
• understand how maps we create tend to naturally exaggerate the importance of the areas we are most familiar with.
• be able to match up the concept of "spaceship earth" with the name of Buckminster Fuller and the image of the Dymaxion World Map.
• be able to recall the five questions to ask about any map projection.
• learn to identify some of the biases that may be inherent in any projection.

• be able to name the three most well known compromise projections (Van der Grinten, Robinson, and Winkel Tripel).
  be able to explain why an "upside down" projection (with South at the top) isn't necessarily WRONG.
• recall how other maps in history used directions other than North as the top of the map.
• speculate on reasons why the National Geographic Society changed its official projections over time.
• understand how there exists a lineage of cartographic history going back hundreds of years.
• assert and explain how there is no one best view of the earth.
  understand how multiple perspectives are necessary to get closer to the truth of how things really are.

• understand that the Van Sant Geosphere Map is a collage.
• be able to explain how an interrupted projected enables a map to be more area-accurate.
• be able to connect the loss of adjacency on an interrupted projection to the loss of adjacency on a rectilinear map.
• explain how Robinson's projection was made to "look right" by trial-and-error.
• understand how maps omit things like clouds, night, human activity, etc.
• explain how a map is like a painting (the cartographer chooses colors).
• be able to articulate the difference between what a maps is, and what that given map implies (denotation versus connotation).
• be able to explain to another person the data represented on the Minard map of Napoleon's invasion of Russia.
• be able to explain what data was omitted from Petit's map of the Black Diaspora and why it was left off.
• be able to explain the features that were generalized on the map Beck created for the London underground (and why the map WORKS!).
• when presented with a map, be able to ask questions regarding what data is left out and hypothesize reasons why a given map might have a tendency to deceive us (deliberately or otherwise).

• be able to explain why clock run "clockwise."
• link the concept of "bellybutton" to cartography.
• distinguish between "East" as a direction and "East" as a location.
• explain why Columbus was "lucky" to find land.
• explore and research alternative views of Columbus.

• be able to recall at least 5 out of the 14 listed purposes maps have.
• in the month following reading this book, be able to list an additional three purposes of maps they come across in their daily lives.
• explain how a map of a piece of land would look differently if mapped from an ecological perspective versus a commercial/capitalist perspective.
• explain how bias underlies any choice of map representation.
• be able to explain "The world we know depends upon how we see it."
• be able to ask, "How would this look from a different point of view?"
• explain how the most important part of the eye is the feet.
• explain to someone who hasn't read the book, "what the truth is!"