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Geography · Grade 7

Scale, Projections and Spatial Reasoning

Learners reason like spatial thinkers: describing places by absolute and relative location, spotting clustered, dispersed and linear patterns, and seeing how a pattern can appear or vanish when the scale of analysis changes. They discover why the shortest flight between two cities looks curved on a flat map, estimate great-circle distances, and use longitude to work out time differences and explain time zones.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 100 minutes
  • Spatial reasoning check: 10 questions
  • Ways to answer: fill in the blanks, choose an answer, pin a map, pick map regions, match pairs and type a number
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What learners will discover

  • Describe a place by its absolute location (coordinates) and its relative location (position compared with other places and features).
  • Explain how the scale of analysis (local, regional, national, global) changes the patterns we see and the questions we can answer.
  • Explain why great-circle routes are the shortest paths on the globe but look curved on many flat maps, and estimate distances along great circles.
  • Use longitude (15° per hour) and UTC offsets to work out time differences, and explain why real time zones follow borders.
  • Identify clustered, dispersed and linear spatial patterns and explain distance decay.

Lessons

  1. Where is it? Absolute and relative location 6 steps3 practiceabout 25 min
  2. Zoom in, zoom out: scale of analysis and distance decay 7 steps4 practiceabout 25 min
  3. Great circles: the shortest way round 7 steps4 practiceabout 25 min
  4. Longitude and time 7 steps4 practiceabout 25 min
  5. Spatial reasoning check 10 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Globe ExplorerSpin a real 3D globe, flip to the flat map, and find continents, oceans and countries.
  • Pin the PlanetDrag the pin onto wonders, cities and exact latitude and longitude points.
  • Route PlannerFind the shortest way around town, dodge closed roads, and measure trips with a scale bar.

More 7th grade geography

Guide for grown-ups