Topic: Altitude on the map

Target group

4th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

II. Field orientation. Pupil:

1. describes the route of the horizon line, lists the names of the main directions;

2. sets the main directions with a compass and the north direction with a gnomon and indicates them in the field;

3. gives differences between the plan and the map;

4. draws a plan of various subjects;

5. draws up and describes a sketch of the school area;

6. reads information from the plan and map using the legend;

7. indicates on the plan and map the observation place and objects in the immediate vicinity of the school;

General aim of education

Students read the heights from the contour lines and differentiate between relative and absolute heights.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• use the spirit level to read altitude;

• distinguish relative height from absolute height;

• to distinguish between hills and mountain.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• modeling dough;

• a piece of cardboard or a large kneading plate;

• long pencils;

• ruler;

• pieces of dental floss approximately 60 centimeters long;

• white cards;

• toothpicks;

• rigid folding or folding ruler;

• blue foil.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Pupils, under the supervision of adults, prepare a modeling cake with the following ingredients: 1) 1 cup of flour; 2) 1/2 glass of salt; 3) 2 teaspoons of Cream of Tartar (in other words: wine stone, potassium tartrate); 4) 1 glass of water; 5) 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil; 6) any food dyes (optional). To obtain the dough, first pour the dry ingredients over the hot pan, then add the liquids to them and mix until the mixture thickens. When the mass has cooled, you have to knead it to obtain a uniform consistency. The mass should be stored in an airtight container..

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

Realization

• The lecturer asks the pupils to read the passage entitled „What are the spirit levels for?” And explained what are the contour lines and the hypsometric map. Students make a note. The selected person reads the definitions of both concepts contained in the notebook, the teacher corrects any errors.

• The lecturer announces the experiment. He or she instructs the students to write a research question and a hypothesis in the form provided in the abstract. Then the students perform the experiment, record their observations and conclusions. The teacher points the person who shares his insights and explains the conclusions made..

• The instructor recommends students to carefully look at the interactive illustration of „Hill and its image on a level map” and hypsometric maps (map of the Lubuskie Voivodeship and map of the Małopolska region). He asks students how convex and concave forms of terrain are presented on hypsometric maps.

• Students independently perform interactive exercise no. 1.

• Students will get acquainted with the fragment „Relative and absolute altitude”, after which the teacher asks two volunteers to help him visualize the read contents. Next to the blue foil on the floor, symbolizing the sea, he puts a chair on which one of the students stands. The second one measures the height of the colleague standing on the chair: 1) from the chair seat upwards; 2) from the floor („sea level”). The obtained results are saved on the board. The other students together with the teacher control the correctness of the records (the relative height should be expressed in meters, and the altitude should be additionally marked with the abbreviation „npm”).

• Students independently perform interactive exercise no. 2.

Summary

• At the end of the class, the teacher asks the students questions:

  • What did you find important and interesting in class?

  • What was easy and what was difficult?

  • How can you use the knowledge and skills you have gained today?

  Willing/selected students summarize the lesson.

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Altitude on the map

A map and a plan show a diminished area seen from above. However, the depicted area may contain not only forests, houses or roads, but also hills and valleys. How should they be marked on a map? It can be done with contour lines – lines that join points of equal elevation above sea level. The value of the altitude above sea level is specified next to or on the contour lines. Using a model of a hill, we will try to find out how contour lines are constructed and how they can be used to produce a hypsometric map.

If a peak is marked on the map, there is usually a number expressing its absolute altitude. It shows the actual elevation of a given place above sea level. Sometimes a unit of measurement (that is meters) and the abbreviation “a.s.l.” additionally appear next to it. The whole annotation may look like this, for example: „1015 m.a.s.l.”, which should be read as: “one thousand and fifteen meters above sea level”.

If, on the other hand, we measure the height of an elevation from its foot to the top, then we will know its relative altitude. Its value depends on where we start the measurement. Relative altitudes are expressed in meters, without an additional abbreviation.

Measuring relative altitudes, we talked about a hill. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it a “mountain”? There are many different forms of terrain in our surroundings. If you look around you will see more of them. Some of these forms are convex, that is they are higher than the surrounding area. There are also concave forms, which are lower than their surroundings. In contrast, areas with no significant differences in altitudes are classified as flat forms.

Convex terrain forms include, among other things:
hillock – an elevation with a relative altitude usually not exceeding 50 m;
hill – a convex terrain form with a relative altitude of between 50 m and 300 m;
mountain – a terrain form with a relative altitude of over 300 m.

Concave terrain forms include, for example:
valley – an elongated depression of terrain, usually with gentle slopes, typically with a river flowing through it;
basin – a flat depression in the surface of the land, surrounded by elevations on all sides;
ravine – a deep narrow depression with steep sides.

• Altitudes on maps are marked with contour lines – lines that join points of equal elevation above sea level.

• Contour line show the absolute altitude, that is the altitude measured from the sea level.

• The relative altitude is measured in relation to a reference point other than the sea level.

• We distinguish flat, convex and concave forms of terrain.