Introduction
You and your friend just won two free plane tickets to one of five capitals in the United States. In order to receive these tickets you need to choose an exact location. For the airlines to know what capital city you chose, you must give them the exact longitude and latitude of your final destination. Make sure you are precise because you do not want to end up in the middle of the ocean!
Task
Explore the five locations given below and keep note of nearby cities, and geography. When you find the cities on the map, write down each cities exact location (longitude and latitude degrees). At the end of your search, state which location you and your friend chose to go on a trip to and why.
Possible Locations:
-Lansing, Michigan
-Springfield, Illinois
-Jackson, Mississippi
-Albany, New York
-Austin, Texas
Process
To determine longitude and latitude on a physical map, you will need to find the numbers on the grid and convert them into degrees. The numbers on the right and left of the map refer to latitude. The numbers on the top and bottom of the map refer to longitude.
For this activity, use the website given below to find each of the five capitals. First, type in a city from the list. Next, investigate the nearby geography. Lastly, write down the exact location which is found in the boxes below the grid. Keep notes of each city to help chose your final destination.
https://www.itouchmap.com/?r=latlong
Evaluation
Grading Rubric: (5 points being highest, 1 point being lowest)
Students were able to find the exact location of all five capitals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Students described nearby geography of the cities with domain-specific words relevant to the unit- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
Students were organized throughout the activity- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Students stated the capital they chose to go on a trip to with exact location and reason why- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Conclusion
The students will reflect on this activity by writing a short summary on what they learned about the location of each capital, how they found longitude and latitude and how they chose their final destination.