Teaching Method: Include Maps for Geographic Awareness

Almost every lesson, discussion or conversation about global or international topics refers to a location or place, local or distant. All participants in the lesson or discussion may not be familiar with this location. One method for bringing geographic awareness to every lesson, discussion or conversation is to use an electronic map (e.g. http://maps.google.com ) to plot the location for the topic under discussion.

Every news report, history lesson, study of literature, biography, science, book report has a geographic reference point. Even personal introductions, auto-biographies and narratives of personal experiences and dreams involve places that can be mapped.

Teachers and students can follow the steps below to embed an electronic map on a web page, email message, or blog posting:

1. Go to http://maps.google.com
2. Type your street address, city & state in the “Search Maps” field; then click the “Search Maps” button
3. Click on “Map,” “Satellite” or “Terrain” for your preferred view.
4. Click “Link to this page”: Click in the field marked “Paste HTML to embed in website.” Copy the HTML code.
5. To display your map on a web page, blog posting or email message, open a new post, or page.
   
6. Select the "HTML" editing or formatting mode. In some tools put a checkmark in the “Use HTML” box.
7. Paste the HTML code you copied into the message field.
8. Add other information to your message and click "Publish", "Send" or "Post."

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Here is an example of an embedded map post:


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