Implementing Geography Into Mathematics

Integrated curriculum's are a great way to make classes fun and exciting by combining two different topics from different subjects. This is great for learners who have interests outside of math and allows them to learn about how mathematics applies to the subjects that they be more interested in. In today's blog I will be talking about an activity introduced to our class that integrates geography into the mathematics curriculum and can be used to teach many different topic areas!

For this activity students will need access to a computer or some sort of device that can access the internet. A computer would work the best though as the activity requires precise clicking.

Google maps/Google Earth has an interesting feature built in where you can place markers at various points on a satellite image and measure the distance between these markers. This is great for the measurements unit in the grade 9 locally developed, applied and academic classes and allows students to explore shapes found all around the world!

It can be used as a great way to teach perimeter to students as the measurement tool on Google Earth/Maps allows students to measure the distances from different markers. You can give students the coordinates of various famous places that replicate the shapes that need to be covered in the curriculum such as rectangles, squares and pyramids and ask students to determine various things such as perimeter and even ratios! For example, students can be asked to determine the perimeter of BMO field which is a rectangle. Once they find the perimeter of the field they can find the perimeter of any other rectangular shaped object they want. Once they have both perimeters you can ask them to use a ratio to find out how much bigger/smaller BMO field is compared to their object, which covers two topics at once.

Image retrieved from: http://travelingcanucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Pyramids-of-Giza-Egypt-20.jpg

This activity is excellent too because it provides important geography and technology skills such as how to use coordinates to locate an object and how to use google maps to locate objects which is a very useful skill in today's technological world.