Lesson Plan #:AELP-GGR0021
Making a Cartogram
An Educator's Reference Desk Lesson Plan
Submitted by:
Chuck Dwelley
School or Affiliation:
Fortuna Elementary School- Fortuna, CA
Endorsed by:
These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.
Date:
May 1994
Grade Level(s):
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Subject(s)
Description:
Cartograms are visual ways of displaying statistical geographic information. They are a hybrid-cross between a graph and a map. Because of their visual nature these charts are easier for students to absorb and remember statistical geographical data.
Goal:
This activity connects statistical information with a geographic location. It can be used to connect the theme of location to movement, place, region, and/or human environmental interaction, depending on the statistics used. These relationships become readily apparent to the viewer with "ah ha" clarity.
Materials:
colored pens, pencils, scissors, an Almanac, grid paper (graph paper, hundreds chart, etc.) and an appropriate map
Procedure:
To make a cartogram of the United States by population:
(You may use any data you like.)
-
Cartograms are chart maps that present statistical information. On a cartogram, sizes of geographic areas are changed to show the statistical information. For example, on a cartogram about rainfall, an area that gets more rain would be bigger than one that gets less rain.
-
Obtain a listing of the data to be displayed.
Can use data from 1980 census for an example:
By state rounded to the nearer 500,000
Population in millions:
|
AL |
4 |
GA |
5.5 |
MD |
4 |
NJ |
7.5 |
SC |
3 |
|
AK |
.5 |
HI |
1 |
MA |
6 |
NM |
1.5 |
SD |
.5 |
|
AZ |
3 |
ID |
1 |
MI |
10 |
NY |
18 |
TN |
4.5 |
|
AR |
2.5 |
IL |
11.5 |
MN |
4 |
NC |
6 |
TX |
14 |
|
CA |
23.5 |
IN |
5.5 |
MS |
2.5 |
ND |
.5 |
UT |
1.5 |
|
CO |
3 |
IA |
3 |
MO |
5 |
OH |
11 |
VT |
.5 |
|
CT |
3 |
KS |
2.5 |
MT |
1 |
OK |
3 |
VA |
5.5 |
|
DE |
.5 |
KY |
3.5 |
NE |
.5 |
OR |
2.5 |
WA |
4 |
|
DC |
.5 |
LA |
4 |
NV |
1 |
PA |
12 |
WV |
2 |
|
FL |
9.5 |
ME |
1 |
NH |
1 |
RI |
1 |
WI |
4.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WY |
.5 |
Source: "1989 World Almanac"
-
Determine a scale. In the example above one can use one square unit of area per million population.
-
Cut out state areas from grid paper. (Graph paper, a hundreds chart, etc. work well for this purpose.)
-
Keep states in their approximate locations, making a map showing the data graphically. The distortions will demonstrate the data. (Each individual state's shape can be cut and pasted in its relative location to reflect its identity more clearly while altering its area. Different colors can help represent each state.)
Example: California will be cut from 23.5 square units
Nevada will be cut from 1 square unit.
-
When more than one map is made of the same location, using various data, relationships between the various maps show relationships between the data. (eg. maps showing arable land and agricultural production correlate nicely.)
-
After making a variety of cartogram, students can use a variety of higher level thinking skills to analyze the relationships they see in comparing the various charts.
Example:
An excellent source of cartograms are found in "The New State of the World Atlas", by Kidron and Segal.