Map projections is a tough concept to explore with students. The very idea of visible distortions in maps is often a surprise to students who live in a world with Google Maps and Google Earth. 

To get the concept across to students, I came up with this hands-on activity:

1. Get some balls. By this I mean go to your PE colleagues and ask to borrow a bag of dodgeballs. These balls will represent Earth.

2. Collect some scrap paper. 

3. Challenge students to come up with a way to convert the 3D ball to a 2D piece of paper. Students love this. They wrap the paper around the ball, they cut the paper into shapes that best fit the ball. It truly is fun to watch their minds work!

4. Use one of the papers (that had been wrapped around a ball) and draw a map of a northern hemisphere location on it. As you can see, I drew Canada and Denmark. 

It’s important to keep the krinkles and folds IN PLACE – draw over them. Make the map look as accurate as possible. 

5. Unfold the map and show it to the students. 

Ask the students to look at the map. What happened to it – especially the top portion that had been wrinkled up when it was first wrapped around the ball? How did the wrapping affect the accuracy of the map?

Have students compare your map to cylindrical projection maps (such as the Mercator Projection) to determine if they can see similar distortions as the ones in your crumpled map.

6. Have the students visit this website – this site allows users to drag countries around the map, to watch how the appearance changes as the country moves closer to, or further away from, the poles. 

I usually follow up this activity with a discussion about the impact of different projections. I ask questions like “How would the Mercator Projection help some countries/regions feel really proud and strong?” and “How might the Mercator Projection help some countries/regions feel weaker?”

Currently I am working on a culminating assignment for this activity. I am thinking about having students develop their own map projection system. I am not sure how this would work and how I might assess it – it would be very hands-on and creative. What standards would I use? What would the outcome look like?

Anyhow, I hope this activity works!

Ed X!