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World Geography, Cultures, and Social Studies Skills
Map Portfolio Assignment
The map portfolio will be due two weeks prior to the last day of each quarter. To complete these assignments, students may look online or in an atlas or other reference book to find an appropriate model to use to draw the maps by hand onto 8.5x11 printer paper. The collection of map assignments will be combined and placed into a folder with sheet protectors to make an attractive, neat, visually informative world reference atlas. All of the maps should be colored and include a title and legend as appropriate. The legend should be included on the same page as the map. The questions that accompany each map should be answered on another sheet of paper or the back of the map. At the conclusion of the quarter, students should be prepared to present the information to the class using their self-created portfolio of world maps.
Map Assignments (Themes: geography and descriptive demographics)
Create a world atlas with the following maps:
Quarter 1:
Outline of world (free hand map drawn from memory) o Provide step-by-step explanation of how to draw free hand map from memory
Geography Terms Mini-Booklet o Define and draw a picture of each geographical term
Physical map of world (continents, oceans, major seas, rivers, mountains, etc.) o
What is a physical map? o What information is a physical map designed to illustrate? What are some ways that this information is displayed?
Map of world climates (tropical, sub-tropical, etc.) o What factors influence climate? o List and briefly describe all of the different world climates.
Map of world biomes (desert, grassland, forest, etc.) o What is a biome? o List and briefly describe all of the different world biomes. o Compare and contrast the climate map with the biome map. How are they similar? How are they different?
World political (include and label all countries) o What information is a political map designed to illustrate? What are some ways that this information is displayed?
After completing 1-6, answer the following question in 5 paragraphs using concrete examples from the maps and cultures that you have studied:
How do geography and environment influence culture?

Quarter 2:
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Ancient Civilizations (world map showing early civilizations around the world)
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Define civilization
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Early empires (map of major world empires between 500BCE and 500 CE; Roman, Han,…)
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What is the difference between a civilization and an empire?
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World migrations (historical map showing patterns of population movement over time)
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Give three reasons that people may migrate from one place to another
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World languages (modern map showing current distribution of major world languages)
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How do languages develop separately from one another?
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How does the geographic region and environment influence language?
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How does language influence culture?
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Origin of world religions/philosophies (world map with religion, city, and time of origin)
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What time period did most of the world religions originate?
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Indian religion / philosophy (regional map showing origin and spread of Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. with key cities and geographic features like rivers and mountains)
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Hinduism?
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Buddhism?
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Chinese religion / philosophy (regional map showing origin and spread of Confucian philosophy,
Taoism, Zen Buddhism, etc. with key cities and geographic features like rivers and mountains)
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Confucian philosophy?
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Taoism?
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Zen Buddhism?
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Judaism religion / philosophy (regional map showing origin and spread of Judaism with key cities and geographic features like rivers and mountains)
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Judaism?
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Christian religion / philosophy (regional map showing origin and spread of Christianity with key cities and geographic features like rivers and mountains)
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Christianity?
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Islam religion / philosophy (regional map showing origin and spread of Islam with key cities and geographic features like rivers and mountains)
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What key people and cities were important in the history of Islam?
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World religions/philosophies (modern map showing current distribution of major world religions)
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In what country will you find the largest number of Hindus today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of Buddhists today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of practitioners of Confucian philosophy today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of practitioners of Taoist philosophy today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of Zen Buddhists today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of practitioners of Judaism today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of Christians today?
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In what country will you find the largest number of Muslims today?
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Indian Ocean trade (map of Indian Ocean ~1000CE showing items traded)
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What cultures were primarily involved in the Indian Ocean Trade?

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Columbian exchange (map of Atlantic Ocean ~ 1800CE showing items traded)
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What cultures were primarily involved in the Indian Ocean Trade?
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Spread of democracy (~1700CE to present showing world spread of democratic government)
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What is democracy?
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How many countries today practice some form of democracy?

Quarter 3:
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Colonialism/Imperialism (~1500 to 1800)
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Before 1800, what parts of the world were primarily imperialized?
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Colonialism/Imperialism (~1800 to 1914)
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After 1800, what parts of the world were primarily imperialized?
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What inventions in the 19 th century (1801-1900) did the imperializing countries use to imperialize and control the other regions of the world during this time period?
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World War I alliances (triple alliance countries and triple entente countries)
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What was the triple alliance?
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What was the triple entente?
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World War I before and after political maps of Europe and Middle East
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What countries were created at the end of World War I?
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World War II alliances (axis powers and allied powers)
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What were the axis powers?
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What countries were part of the allied powers?
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Cold War alliances (NATO and Warsaw Pact)
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What countries were a part of NATO?
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What countries were a part of the Warsaw Pact?
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Colonialism/Imperialism (~1914 to present)
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What countries were primarily imperialized after 1914?
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What country has primarily been the imperial controller after 1914?
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Globalization (current map of foreign direct investment per country)
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Which countries are most actively involved in direct investment in other countries today?
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How does the global economic system use loans and interest rates to create dependency?

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Quarter 4:
World population density (legend showing most and least populous regions) o Describe some of the general trends in population density. o What regions have the greatest population density? o
Are people evenly distributed throughout the world or are they more clumped in certain areas? o Describe several things that all of most densely populated regions have in common.
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World economics (Gross domestic product per capita) o What does gross domestic product per capita mean? o How is gross domestic product measured? o How is gross domestic product per capita (person) measured? o Why might China produce and sell more products than the United States but still have a lower
GDP per capita?
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World map of economic freedom o What does economic freedom mean? o How is “economic freedom” measured? o What regions of the world enjoy greatest economic freedom?
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World poverty or map of world hunger o
How is world poverty measured? o What regions of the world are experiencing the greatest poverty? o How is world hunger measured? o What regions of the world are experiencing the greatest hunger?
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World internet access o How is world internet access measured? o What regions of the world have the greatest access to internet?
World energy use o How is energy use measured? o What regions of the world are using the greatest amount of energy?
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World map of human ecological footprint o What does ecological footprint mean? o How is the human ecological footprint measured? o
What regions of the world have the largest ecological footprint?
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World map of happiness o What factors were considered to create a measure of happiness? o
Do you think those factors create an accurate description of happiness?
Writing and Reflection
After completing the world maps, draw conclusions based on the global information presented by the combination of all of these maps.
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Is the unequal distribution of wealth and resources displayed by the maps that you created sustainable?
Explain.
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Is the current rate of consumption and production of goods to increase gross domestic product sustainable? Explain.
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Explain how the environment, energy, and economy are connected.

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Write a story about the world that will take place in the year 2050 (most of you would be ~52). In your story describe the following information.
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World population (density, location, total number, etc.)
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Food production and consumption (fisheries, cattle, livestock, fruits, vegetables, grains, etc.)
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Energy production and consumption (coal, oil, natural gas, wind, solar, etc.)
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Economic information (How much money will you have? How will that compare to the rest of the world average? How will you obtain this money?)
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Brainstorm a list of things that you could do to: “Take only what you need; and replace what you take.” a.
How could you use less oil? b.
How could you use less coal? c.
How could you replace the food that you eat? d.
Continue to think of more ways that you could live sustainably and list them below.
F.
Describe the process of repeatedly drawing these maps from scratch. Has this helped you to learn and remember more about world geography? Why or why not?

Additional Map Assignments (Themes: religion/philosophy and government)
In addition to all of the maps created previously, students may add the following maps for extra credit:

Maps that will be completed with your research report
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Detailed Maps of Africa
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Detailed Maps of Middle East (Southwest Asia)
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Detailed Maps of Asia (South, East, Southeast Asia)
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Detailed Maps of Australia / Oceana
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Detailed Maps of Europe
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Detailed Maps of North America
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Detailed Maps of Latin America (Middle, Central, and South America)
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World political map with your country highlighted
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Regional political map with your country highlighted
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Political map of your country
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Physical map of your country
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Additional maps of your country TBA