Latin America: Our Neighbors at Home and to the South
Question #2-What are the main geographic features of Latin America and how do they affect people's lives? This activity is meant to soldify students' understanding of Latin American geography as they create a model of the major landforms found in that part of the world. Not only will students work within small groups to research, plan and create their models, they will ultimately present their work and put it together with the models that other groups have created in order to create a complete relief map of Latin America.
Skills:
Materials: Newspapers, flour, salt, water, large spoons, buckets, large bowls, a large map showing one part of Latin America, heavy cardboard, glue, paint, brushes, permanent markers, labels, and direction sheet.
Procedures: Divide the class into teams. Distribute the directions and assign group roles. Instruct students to work together following directions on the handout. Circulate among groups facilitating and answering questions.
Group Roles:
Student Activities And Instructions:Student 1: Scale mathematician, map builder's assistant, painter's assistant
Student 2: Researcher, label and legend maker, map builder's assistant
Student 3: Painter, map builder's assistant, scale mathematician
Student 4: Map builder, painter's assistant, research assistant
1. Research landforms: Research the features and landforms you might include on your map. Decide which features you want to include and make a list of them. Add each landform's elevation, or height, to the list. This chart will be presented along with your model, so make sure to make it organized and large enough to read. Use posterboard or large construction paper.
2. Determine the range: Have one team member use the data for the highest elevation and the lowest elevation on your list to figure out the range of elevations you want to represent on your model.
3. Decide on a scale: The landforms on your model are much smaller than the actual landforms you are representing. Decide on a scale to show elevations on your relief map. You might want to use 1 inch = 10,000 feet (or use 1 cm = 1,000 meters).
Have one team member use the following formula to calculate the heights of the features on your relief map.
The real height of landform divided by the scale distance (10,000 feet or 1,000 meters) equals the measurement height (inches or centimeters)on model.
4. Choose colors: Decide which colors you will use to show different elevations ranges. For example, you could use yellow to represent altitudes over 800 meters, orange to represent altitudes between 600 and 800 meters, and so on. Make a legend that shows the color you will paint each feature. Include the scale on the legend. Add the legend to the chart.
5. Create a map base: Take a piece of cardboard that is larger than the size of your map. Using the map as a guide, draw a rough outline of the landforms and features you plan to build directly onto the cardboard.
6. Make papier-mache: Tear the newspaper into thin strips. Then use the flour, salt and water to make a paste. First, mix half a cup of flour and a large spoonful of salt into a bucket or large bowl. Add one cup of warm water to the flour and salt. Mix with your hands until it has a texture like thick soup. If you need to make it thicker, add more flour. If you need to make it thinner, add more water. Dip each strip of newspaper into the paste to make papier-mache.
7. Build your map: Begin by building the areas of highest elevation. Place the strips of papier-mache neatly on top of the map. Keep adding layers of papier-mache, shaping the building materials to look like mountains, plains or other landforms. Have one person handling the papier-mache and another measuring and checking elevations. Continue by building the areas of medium and lowest elevation. Be sure to allow space for large lakes and rivers.
8. Finish your map: After the papier-mache has dried, paint the relief map. Use the colors on the table to show the elevation of the map's features. Paint all bodies of water, including the surrounding ocean. Be sure one section is dry before you use another color to paint an area next to it. Make labels to identify countries, major cities, and bodies of water. Add the color key to show the elevation ranges and scales.
Sharing your work: Be prepared to share your work. Look over your materials. Make sure the information on the chart is spelled correctly. Make sure you know what areas are north, south, east and west of the section of Latin America you studied. We will be putting each of the maps together on the large table in the room in order to get a sense of where the different areas are located.
Assessment: Relief maps will be evaluated according this rubric.