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Map Skills - Plans & Scale
Objectives
To understand how scale is used in maps, and to begin to use this skill.
Resources
📄 Making a Plan Instructions | 📊 Scale Presentation (PowerPoint) | Table with different sized and shaped objects | Plain paper | Squared paper | Ruler | Scissors | Glue | Calculator
Today's Lesson
Main Activity
Explain to your student that a map is a picture of a place seen from above (a ‘bird's eye view’) and shrunk to a smaller size (to scale). Using a suitable table or a large piece of A3 paper, place five objects of different sizes and shapes onto it (for example, a mug, a book, a pencil, a hairbrush and a fork). Give your student five minutes to sketch the table from above on A4 paper, showing the relative size, shape and location of the objects. Don't worry about it being neat or perfect; the aim is just to get the general idea. Then ask your student, “Was that harder or easier than you expected? How accurate is your plan? What would have made it easier?”
Today we are going to try to make a plan of an imaginary room. We want to keep everything in proportion, so we need to scale the size down: this means reducing everything by the same amount. Today we will use a scale of 1:25 (said '1 to 25') which means 1 cm on our plan will represent 25 cm in real life. Read the sheet Making a Plan and help your child to calculate the size of the room. The correct size is 20 cm x 14 cm. Ask your child to draw a rectangle this size on plain paper.
Now ask your student to calculate the size of the main pieces of furniture. The answers are: bed = 4 x 8 cm; wardrobe = 6 x 3 cm; desk = 6 x 2 cm; chair = 2 x 2 cm; toy box = 2 x 4 cm. Ask your student to draw each piece of furniture, label it and then cut it out. This will be easiest on squared paper, but can be done on plain if necessary. They can arrange the room however they want to, and add other furniture or decorations if they would like. Don't forget a title and a key!
Challenge Activity
If your student is really interested in scale, they could learn more about how it is used on Ordnance Survey maps by looking at the Scale Presentation.