The Mapping Specialist

Vol XI, No. 1 - Winter 2003

Contents | In Focus | Mapmaking | Geonews | Profile | Relay for Life | Employee

PROFILE
Cartography in the Classroom

Throughout the year, MSL provides financial support to various causes in our community, such as United Way, Special Olympics, and Second Harvest Food Bank.  Employees also receive a turkey for the holidays, and they have the option of donating it to the local food pantry or taking it home; about one-third choose to donate the turkey.  MSL is also pleased to provide another form of community service: classroom demonstrations of cartography in local schools.

Each year several MSL staff members speak at their children's schools, giving computer demonstrations, showing examples, and talking to the students about what being a cartographer is all about.  Many other requests for speakers are handled by project manager Jeff King, who has a degree in secondary social studies education.

Jeff says that there are two kinds of requests for speakers: for social studies classes who are engaged in a unit of map skills, or for "career day" events at local middle or high schools.

"The career day events are a lot of fun," Jeff says, "because the students have chosen to attend this presentation instead of others that are offered at the same time.  This usually means the students are already interested in maps.  It's exciting to see kids already thinking about cartography as a career as early as middle school."

Often, the teachers themselves are just as interested in what cartographers do each day.  Several social studies teachers have commented that they appreciate seeing how cartography and geography can be applied outside the classroom.  "One teacher was even pleased to see that there are career options for social studies teachers outside the classroom."

Classroom presentations for social studies classes are a little different.  "Usually, the students are already studying a map skills unit, and the teacher brings me in to help present it," Jeff says.  "One class may be learning how to map their neighborhood, so I teach them about the street mapping process.  Another class might be studying 3-D mapping, so I focus on maps that have shaded relief or contours."  Jeff uses a combination of printed examples of maps and digital files to show what is involved in making a map.

Jeff also likes to challenge the geographic knowledge of the students with an activity that generates the most excitement.  "I created a simple map of North America with a number of intentional errors.  I ask them to help me find all the errors, some of which are not so obvious.  The point I try to make is that a big part of my job is not just creating maps, but then checking them to be sure they are error-free.  I'm always amazed; most classes, even as young as 4th grade, can find most, or even all, of the errors on the map!"

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