Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

eliminate distractions) may serve very well for the map. With a linoleum, the map has a natural boundary line which could be helpful. After the teacher has planned the "layout" of the map in advance, the class, using chalk or tempera paint, would draw a street which would represent the street in front of the school building. The nearest intersection could then be drawn. The streets on this floor map should be wide enough for the children to walk on without touching the buildings which will be placed on the map. ( The width of the streets should be considered during the construction of the "homes" so that the scale is fairly accurate.) After the first intersection is placed on the map, it woidd be feasible to place the school building on the proper site. This would provide a point of orientation from which the children could continue developing the map. The child living nearest the school could then place his "home" on the map. If it is necessary for him to cross a street, it may be important to draw in another street. The children would be visualizing the boy's actions because they know where he lives. The next child places his home on the map. Streets are added as the homes are placed on the map. Other buildings are placed in their relative positions. XT would be interesting and helpful to have the children actually walk down the street from the school. They turn left or right when they normally turn as they walk home. The children obey the traffic and safety rules as they walk down the streets on the map. This would also provide an opportimity for the teacher to observe the learnings of the pupils in a "play life" situation. The names of the streets are written on the floor, intersections are lined with safety zones, traffic signs are placed at the proper intersections and other "landmarks" are put into position by the students. After the map has been completed the students would walk up and down its streets describing their walk and the objects placed on the map. As they do this walking and talking, the map should become more realistic to them. When the students have learned the map, the teacher might have them make a three-dimensional map on a sand table. This would be more abstract than the map on the floor. Instead of walking up and down the streets, the children could have their fingers walk through the streets. The sand table would be much smaller, the streets much narrower, and the buildings very small. Small blocks of wood used in games such as Monopoly might be used. The small symbols for houses and the larger ones for the school, store, post office, etc. The sand table map would be more abstract than the map on the floor but it would still have three-dimensions. The writer believes that this transferring to a smaller, 3-D map is rather essential in order to assure more complete understanding by all the children in the class. The map should be developed as slowly as necessary to have every child follow the abstracting. The floor map should remain until the unit is completed so that the children may go back to it for reassurances when necessarv. After the children have walked through the map with their fingers several times, they may be ready to move to a more abstract level of understanding. That level would be presented on the chalk board. The map now leaves the horizontal plane and is presented on a vertical plane. It becomes more abstract because it is a series of lines drawn to represent the streets, signs, buildings, etc. If this is developed slowly by the students, there may be little or no difficulty involved. Nevertheless, the teacher must be certain that the students are understanding this transference from the three-dimensional horizontal model map to a two-dimensional drawn or diagrammatic map in a vertical position. The students should trace the routes home, to the store, post office and friends' homes on the drawn map many times, with the teacher observing each motion of the fingers. Questions, answers and discussions should be held to evaluate the learnings of the students. References would be made to the sand table map and the floor map as the occasion required. Moving into the final phase of this elementary, home-school community map the teacher may wish to reduce the map to 8'/2 x 11 inch pai>ei for the children to take home. The writer believes this could be achieved by having tht teacher attach an 8V2 x 11 sheet on the chalkboard beside the larger map. While in full view of the children, the teacher would draw the outline of the map's main arteries on the sheet ol paper. He or she would explain to the childrer that the map is being reduced, or made smaller to fit that size paper. If one line is smaller shorter, or narrower, then all lines must be madt smaller, shorter or narrower. He could draw the school and perhaps some other buildings 01 symbols for them on the map and have the students discuss them. Perhaps some of the childrer could assist in placing them on the drawn reduced map. In preparation for the next day's lesson, th( teacher could duplicate enough maps so tha each child would have two copies. On the firs one, each child would trace his safe way homt and place his home on the map. He could colo his home, the school, store, etc. On the seconc map, each child could make a complete maj showing the location of the homes of all the boy and girls in his class and all the important "land marks." This map construction could be a very rea evaluation of his knowledge of map making ^^ interpreting on an elementary level, as wel^fl providing enjoyable problem .solving. In the years to follow, the child's understand ing of a larger community ( a larger section o town) would have developed. His small worU has grown and he has gained some understand ing of size relationship. A map of his city i made very similar to his own map, but a greats area is included. The study of maps continue from city to county, to state, to country, to con tinent, to hemisphere and to the entire earth. A* the child's communitv gets smaller in size rela tionships, his world of understanding, if de veloped properly, continues to grow, and, havin; an understanding of elmentary maps, he cai graduate to the study of more complicated map* 488 Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide — Septembek. 196"