Session 1 · SOLVE: Organise Information
Your pace and your scale
- 10 minRead 'Scale: shrinking the world to fit on paper'. What does 1:100 mean?
- 15 minPace yourself: walk 20 m ten times, count your steps, and find your average pace length in centimetres.
- 20 minClassroom map: measure the room and draw it to scale on grid paper (for example 1 cm = 50 cm). Add furniture as rectangles.
- 5 minCheck: measure one thing on your map, convert it with the scale, and check it in real life.
Session 2 · SOLVE: Organise Information
Map the grounds
- 10 minPlan: split the school grounds into zones. Each group takes one zone and a job list (measurer, recorder, checker).
- 30 minField work: measure buildings, paths, trees and courts with tapes, trundle wheels and paces. Record in a table with a sketch.
- 10 minBack inside: agree on one scale and one (0, 0) point for the whole school map so the zones will join up.
Getting started
Give each group a ready-made outline of their zone and have them add three features to it.
Stretch
Work out the scale of the aerial photo by comparing one measured length with the photo. Write it as a ratio.
Checkpoint
Each group has a measured, scaled drawing of its zone ready to join into the class map.
Activities for this week
- Pace it, scale it: How can you measure a whole school field without a giant ruler?
Useful this week
- New Zealand topographic maps ↗ The official Topo50 maps, with scale, contours and grid, used by emergency services.
- Topo50 map chooser ↗ Download a free map sheet for your own area.