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Why Greenland Looks So Huge on Flat Maps

6th grade nonfiction passage about map distortion: 214 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

6th grade nonfiction map distortion 214 words

Why Greenland Looks So Huge on Flat Maps

Look at a common wall map of the world and Greenland seems enormous. It appears about as large as the whole continent of Africa. In truth, Africa is many times larger. How can a map get this so wrong?

The trouble is that the Earth is a ball, and a map is flat. Imagine peeling an orange and pressing the skin flat on a table. The peel would crack and stretch. Mapmakers face the same problem. Any way of flattening the globe must stretch, squeeze, or cut some part of the surface. Each method is called a projection.

One famous projection was made by a mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator in the year 1569. It was designed for sailors. On a Mercator map, a line of constant direction on the sea shows up as a straight line, which makes steering across an ocean much easier. To keep directions correct, the map stretches the land more and more as it moves away from the equator. Places near the poles, such as Greenland, look far too big.

Other projections give a truer picture of size but bend the shapes of the continents. No flat map is perfect. A globe is the best way to see the Earth truthfully, and a mapmaker simply chooses which map fits the job.

Questions

  1. How does Greenland look on a common wall map? in the text

  2. Why must every flat map have some mistakes? in the text

  3. What is a projection? in the text

  4. Who made the famous projection in 1569, and who was it designed for? in the text

  5. Why does the Mercator map make steering at sea easier? think about it

  6. Why does the passage compare a map to an orange peel? think about it

Words to know

continent
one of the seven great land masses on Earth
projection
a way of showing the round Earth on a flat map
equator
the imaginary line around the middle of the Earth
poles
the northern and southern ends of the Earth
constant
staying the same without changing
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 193 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.3

Look at a common wall map of the world. Greenland looks huge. It seems as big as the whole continent of Africa. But Africa is many times bigger. How can a map be so wrong?

The problem is that the Earth is a ball, and a map is flat. Think of peeling an orange and pressing the peel flat on a table. It would crack and stretch. Mapmakers have the same problem. Any way to flatten the globe must stretch, squeeze, or cut some part. Each way is called a projection.

A mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator made a famous projection in 1569. He made it for sailors. On his map, a line of steady direction on the sea is a straight line. That makes steering across an ocean easier. To keep the directions right, the map stretches the land more as it moves away from the equator. Places near the poles, like Greenland, look far too big.

Other projections show size more truly but bend the shapes of the continents. No flat map is perfect. A globe is the best way to see the Earth. A mapmaker picks the map that fits the job.

▲ This passage · 214 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5

Look at a common wall map of the world and Greenland seems enormous. It appears about as large as the whole continent of Africa. In truth, Africa is many times larger. How can a map get this so wrong?

The trouble is that the Earth is a ball, and a map is flat. Imagine peeling an orange and pressing the skin flat on a table. The peel would crack and stretch. Mapmakers face the same problem. Any way of flattening the globe must stretch, squeeze, or cut some part of the surface. Each method is called a projection.

One famous projection was made by a mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator in the year 1569. It was designed for sailors. On a Mercator map, a line of constant direction on the sea shows up as a straight line, which makes steering across an ocean much easier. To keep directions correct, the map stretches the land more and more as it moves away from the equator. Places near the poles, such as Greenland, look far too big.

Other projections give a truer picture of size but bend the shapes of the continents. No flat map is perfect. A globe is the best way to see the Earth truthfully, and a mapmaker simply chooses which map fits the job.

■ Harder · 224 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 9.3

Examine a typical wall map of the world and Greenland appears gigantic, seemingly as large as the entire continent of Africa. In reality, Africa is many times larger. How could a map distort the truth so badly?

The difficulty is that the Earth is a sphere while a map is flat. Imagine peeling an orange and attempting to press the skin flat on a table; it would split and stretch in places. Mapmakers confront exactly the same dilemma, because every method of flattening the globe must stretch, squeeze, or slice some portion of the surface. Each such method is known as a projection.

One celebrated projection was created by a mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator in 1569, and it was designed with sailors in mind. On a Mercator map, a course of constant direction across the sea appears as a straight line, which makes navigating across an ocean considerably simpler. To preserve directions accurately, the map stretches the land more and more as it moves away from the equator, so regions near the poles, such as Greenland, look far larger than they truly are.

Other projections give a more faithful impression of size but warp the shapes of the continents. No flat map is flawless. A globe remains the most truthful way to view the Earth, and a mapmaker simply selects whichever map suits the purpose.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put continent, projection, equator, poles and constant on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Why Greenland Looks So Huge on Flat Maps"?

It was written for 6th grade. It has 214 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.0. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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