Lesson Plan and Documents

Assignment for Project

Topographic Map of a Golf Course
Objective: To design ONE golf course hole, create a topographic map of that hole and a 3-D representation of your map.
Your hole must include:
The flag with the number of the hole.
At least three hills.
At least 2 depressions (water, streams, bunkers, etc.)
Model must be NO larger than 2ft by 2ft
Models can be made out of paper Mache, play dough, Styrofoam, Legos, etc. PLEASE, nothing that will spoil.
Preliminary Sketch due: November 30th
3-D Golf Course model due: December 3rd
Topographic Map of Model (final draft) due: December 3rd
*** ALL models and drawings must be colored appropriately. There is a section of the grade on effort and creativity! Have fun with this  I am super excited to see your projects!


Rubric
Topographic Map Project
The flag with the number of the hole. _____/5
At least three hills. _____/30
At least 2 depressions _____/20
Model must be NO larger than 2ft by 2ft _____/5
Materials will not spoil. _____/5
On Time _____/10
Final Draft _____/10
Effort & Creativity _____/15

Reflection of Lesson
Reflection of Week Four Instructional Plan
Teaching of map reading is not directly stated in the 7th grade Arizona Science Standards but I feel that teaching map reading skills is necessary to teach as a life skill. Many people struggle with reading a map and would be lost without G.P.S. Map reading is another way for me to incorporate math skills into my science lessons. Teaching about scale factors is a standard is 6th, 7th, and 8th grade mathematics. My favorite type of map to teach about is definitely the topographic map and I love the fact it can be related to the student’s lives. I often mention mini-golf and golfing but this year I connected it to the Wii game system. Using those three examples, almost every student could link topography to something familiar.
The models of the topographic landscapes were created at home as a project. I had two work days in class where students were given credit for bringing in their projects and materials to share about their progress. When I do projects I always have these check-in days to ensure that students are keeping up with necessary components of the assignment. The last day of the assignment was to present and create a colored topographic map of their landscape. I have students use an 8.5 x 11” sheet of paper folded in half “hot dog style”. On one half, they draw in pencil a topographic map including the depressions, hills, water, etc. They also need to include a scale and index contour lines. On the other half of the worksheet, they draw the exact same map but they use color to demonstrate their understanding of the different levels. I have them think of the Wii, where the slope of the land is dark green in high spots and lighter shades of green when the slopes get lower. This serves as the final check of their understanding of topographic maps. After building their models and answering the sample map questions, they are very successful of meeting my goals and expectations for the unit. See below for pictures of student models. They were amazing! It was a very enjoyable and meaningful project for everyone involved. It was the first time I had used this project and it will be part of 7th grade in my classroom forever!

Earth Science Models

For my lesson plan, I had students create topographic maps and models of the landscape of a golf course. It was a wonderful project and the results were phenomenal! Students who rarely turn in work had some of the best projects. To link the idea to student understanding, I compared the project a mini or regular golf course. I also brought in my WII on Friday when we have only 30 minute periods and let the kids see the WII golf course and how the colors change as the landscape changes. The projects were made out of everything from clay, cardboard, wood, legos, cake, and even rice dyed different colors.