Lesson plan for using SHOW USA and SHOW World websites (show.mappingworlds.com) as a classroom teaching tool for geography and social studies. Grade levels 9-12.

1. Lesson Plan
Exploring the USA and the World with Cartograms
Grade Level: 9, 10, 11, 12
Subjects:
Social Studies
•
Geography
•
Duration: Two 55-minute sessions, or one session and independent study
Description: Students will use the SHOW® website (http://show.mappingworlds.com) that presents
data about the 50 US states and countries of the world using cartograms—maps that illustrate data in
place of geographical size. They will analyze the information and draw conclusions based on their
observations. See the Browsing Guide (page 4) for more information about the website.
The lesson is designed to meet in part the National Geography Standards of the National Council for
Geographic Education.
Goals:
1. Students will understand the concept of a cartogram and how to interpret information illustrated
by one.
2. Students will understand the relationships between different sets of data about countries,
including possible causal relationships.
3. Students will increase their general knowledge of the countries of the world and the United
States.
Objectives:
1. Students will learn how different ways of analyzing and presenting data can lead to different
understandings of a geographic region.
2. Students will learn to analyze and understand data by comparing two different data sets, as
illustrated by different maps in SHOW ®.
3. Students will learn the concepts of basic data about states and countries, such as population
density, GDP, health, and development data, and how they contribute to an overall understanding
of geography.
4. Students will learn basic knowledge about the US and the world related to demographics,
development, environment, health, agriculture, culture, and other topics.
Materials/Equipment:
Computer(s) with internet access
•
Browsing Guide and Study Questions handouts (pages 4 and 5)
•

2. 2
Procedure:
1. Introduction to the site and the concept of a cartogram
Tell students to go to the SHOW® USA website (by clicking on the USA icon at
show.mappingworlds.com or going directly to show.mappingworlds.com/usa) on their computers.
Give them a few minutes to learn to navigate the site and explore the maps, giving help when
necessary.
Let the students to experiment with the zoom function to see the smaller states by clicking on the +
symbol at the upper left of the map and then again over the map, and using the resize function (the
circular arrow under the + symbol) to switch between the geographic and cartogram views. Tell them
to scroll through the list of states and data on the right by grabbing and moving the red bar. See the
Browsing Guide (page 4) for help.
Tell students to navigate to the Potatoes map, under the PLANET/Crops menu, for an example. Ask
the students what the map indicates:
a. Which state produced the most potatoes?
b. Did Texas produce a large amount of potatoes?
c. How many pounds of potatoes did Maine produce?
2. Introduce the concept of raw data vs. rates and ranking
Tell students to find the Population map under the PEOPLE/Demographics menu. Ask for a
definition of the term “demographics.”
Tell the students to find the population of their state. Ask them to name the most populous state.
Tell the students to navigate to the Population Density map under the PEOPLE/Demographics
menu. Pose these questions for discussion:
a. Why is this map different from the Population map?
b. What does population density mean? (ask students for a plain language definition, such
as “how crowded the state is”)
c. Which state is the most dense? Which is the least dense? What is the term for how high
a state is on a list? (rank)
3. Explore analysis of data and cause and effect relationships
Using the list of states, allow each student to pick a different state or assign a different state to each.
Ask the students to guess whether his/her state will have a large or small number of chickens
produced. Then tell the students to navigate to the Chicken Production menu under
PLANET/Animal Resources and see the actual number. Ask these questions:
a. Was their guess close? Too high? Too low?
b. Using the text with the map, give some possible reasons why your assigned state ranks
high or low in chicken production.

3. 3
4. Explore analysis by using data from multiple maps and the importance of data definition
Tell the students to navigate to Organic Farms under BUSINESS/Agriculture. Tell the students to
note the number of organic farms in Alaska. Then have them navigate to Organic Farm Land under
the same menu. Ask these questions:
a. How can Alaska have so much land on organic farms, more than any other state, when
the other map shows that most other states have more farms? (the farms in Alaska are
larger in area)
b. Can you find a reason that the farms in Alaska might be larger somewhere on this page?
Look carefully, the details about exactly what the map is measuring makes a difference.
(by putting the mouse pointer over Details on the right, the students can see that the data
includes livestock production, so the farms in Alaska might be ranches)
5. Independent exploration
If time remains, tell the students to find their assigned state, or any state or region of their choosing,
on at least three other maps and offer possible explanations for why the data on that map rank high
or low. Ask them to try to find possible explanations for data on one map by using data from another
map. Suggest using maps related to a current event.
Assessment: In small groups or independent study, ask students to answer the questions on the
Study Questions handout (below) using the SHOW ® sites. Also consider assigning a research project on
a specific issue, state, or country of the student’s choosing using SHOW ® as a starting point.

4. 4
Browsing Guide: Tips for using the SHOW® USA and SHOW® World websites
(show.mappingworlds.com).
SHOW ® is a project of MappingWorlds (www.mappingworlds.com). It is free to use, with no registration or
personal information collected.
Click here to go Go to the different Click on “Details” for more about
to the other site. maps using the menus. the data and a link to the source.
See the data
Use these buttons to The size of the state or
and ranks in a
zoom in and out and country matches the data.
list by scrolling
toggle between the Point to see the number and
through the box
geographic map and the the percent of the world or
here.
cartogram. US total it represents.
SHOW® is a project by Mapping Worlds. Email: contact@mappingworlds.com

5. 5
SHOW® Study Questions
Primary Resource: http://show.mappingworlds.com
®
1. In SHOW World, look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) map under BUSINESS/Economy.
What does GDP mean? What does GDP tell you about a country? List two countries with a high
GDP and two with a low GDP. Which continent has the most countries with low GDP? (use the
resize button if necessary to see the continents)
2. In SHOW ® World, look at the Under-5 Mortality map under PEOPLE/Health.
What does Under-5 mortality mean? How is this map different from the GDP map? Can you think
of a connection between the two?
®
3. In SHOW World, look at the Refugees by Origin map under POLITICS/Conflict.
What is a refugee? What are the two countries with the largest number of refugees leaving? Why
are they the largest? Can you find a map on the website that tells you where they went?
4. In SHOW ® World, look at the World Migrants map under POLITICS/Migration.
What is a migrant? Is a migrant the same thing as a refugee? Can you think of reasons why the
US has more than any other country?
5. In SHOW ® USA, look at the African Americans map under PEOPLE/Demographics.
From the information given, can you explain why there are many African American people in the
South? Can you explain why there are many states in the North with a large number of African
Americans?
®
6. In SHOW USA, look at the Hispanics map under PEOPLE/Demographics.
What does Hispanic mean? Is it the same as Latino or Latina? From the information given, can
you give three reasons why there are so many Hispanic people in California?
7. In SHOW ® USA, look at the Tornadoes map under PLANET/Environment.
What is Florida’s rank in number of tornadoes that hit the state? What percentage of all the
tornadoes that hit the United States that year were in Florida?
Now look at the Tornado Deaths map under PEOPLE/Causes of Death. What is Florida’s rank,
8.
and what percent of the total deaths occurred in Florida? Can you think of two reasons why
Florida had so many tornado deaths even though other states had more tornadoes?
®
9. In SHOW USA, look at the Unemployment map under BUSINESS/Employment.
What does unemployment rate mean? How is the rate different from the number of unemployed?
From the information given, can you explain why Michigan has the highest unemployment rate?
®
10. In SHOW USA, look at the Wilderness map under PLANET/Environment.
What is wilderness and how does this map measure it? Why do you think there so much
wilderness in Alaska and states in the West, and not as much in the East?
11. Browse through the maps on both sites. What are the most surprising facts you see that you
didn’t expect?