Good teachers can take the resources they are given and turn them into valuable teaching experiences for their students. They use their imagination to stretch out educational materials and create new ones.
For example, an outdated wall maps can become lessons in history. Because political boundaries in the world change so frequently, a map from ten or twenty years ago is a relic of an bygone era. It can be used to show the evolution of certain regions and spark discussions about diplomatic and military strategies and their impact on countries and governments.
The advent of digital technology makes it possible for teachers to make new and interactive maps while expending few financial resources. By using computer mapping software it is possible for teachers to create a radius map , or show students how to do so. These maps can be centered on any given locus — a city, a town, a mountain, a lake — and include the surrounding territory for hundreds or thousands of miles. Because they do not have to be printed by a publishing company, these maps are virtually free. They are also interactive, which means that they can be expanded or adjusted to focus on larger or smaller regions or they can change the center point. This will offer countless learning opportunities for students in the subjects of geography, government as well as numerous social studies subjects.
