Why I ALWAYS have an upside-down map in my class!

If you haven't watched The West Wing, you really should (at least seasons 1 through4). One of my favorite scenes as a social studies teacher is when the press secretary. C. J. Craig is asked by the group Cartographers for Equality to adopt the Peters Projection Model and to put the map with the southern hemisphere at the top. You can watch the scene on Youtube Here

In addition to the reasons given on this show, for example, the North versus South debate and positional importance of countries, There are a few other basic reasons not mentioned for why you should have this in your classroom

1 Up until Recently, We didn't really know which way the earth was situated.

Maps were drawn long before we went to space and were able to stand on the moon and look at the earth. Even in the early days of space exploration, the astronauts could situate themselves in zero gravity with the Earth looking the way they always learned!

2 The mapmaker tends to put themselves at the top and center of the map!

For example, a map of China has China in the center.

When we use maps created by Europeans, Europe is on top.

3 It encourages debate, creative and critical thinking. Your students might ask:

1. What about magnetic poles?

2. What about astronauts?

3. What about how rivers flow?

   You can remind them that, while magnetic poles point up and down the concepts of north and south are still human-made, and the south pole could easily be at the top astronauts would reorient themselves based on what they're familiar with. and not all rivers flow north to south!

4 It really freaks them out! In a good way!

School you can learn things that change your entire worldview, literally. It introduces controversy that is not traditionally taboo for students to discuss, and is a great way to introduce debate skills!

After a few days, they get over it and becomes a part of the normal classroom environment. But then parents come to conferences, or to open house, and they look for the teacher with the upside-down map, often with the same questions that their children had!

A learning experience, a debate point critical and creative thinking, and logic... all from a single map. What more could you want?

While I just took any map I had and placed it upside down. You can buy maps that are specifically made for this. That means the south is located at the top, but the words and descriptions are right side up if you're interested in such a map here is a link to one on Amazon. This is an affiliate link which means if you purchase through my link, I will receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you!

Do you use an upside-down map? How did it go for your class? Let me know in the comments!

My old classroom!

With the upside-down map!--->.