Grade Levels: 9-12
Time Allotment: 1.5 to 2 hours
Maine Social Studies Standards: C1, D1, E1
This lesson examines various kinds of thematic maps from the 19th century. It begins with an example of a Sanborn fire insurance maps, followed by a series of war maps. This first part of the lesson asks several questions: Why were these maps produced? How have they been used? What conditions in the 19th century manufactured demand for these maps? In the second part of the presentation, students are given a map of a fictional town plagued by an epidemic. By mapping the cases on a provided map, they must determine how the disease is being spread. After the activity, the presentation continues with a discussion of disease mapping since John Snow's famous 1854 "cholera map" which proved that Cholera is spread through contaminated water and not through "miasmas" as previously thought.
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Koch, Tom. Disease Maps: Epidemics on the Ground. 2011.
Presentation
Suggested Script w/ Images
Editable Script
Activity Map 1
Activity Map 2