Mapping the world: locating the continents
I can understand that a map is a 2D model of the world and I know what continents and oceans are.
Mapping the world: locating the continents
I can understand that a map is a 2D model of the world and I know what continents and oceans are.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- It is hard to make a 2D map of a 3D world and so maps of the world can look quite different from each other.
- We call large blocks of land continents and there are seven of these on Earth.
- There are seven continents: Europe, Africa, North America, South America, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica.
- Some continents, such as North and South America, are connected and some, such as Oceania, include lots of islands.
Keywords
2D - A two-dimensional (2D) object is flat - its dimensions are height (top to bottom) and width (side to side).
3D - A three-dimensional (3D) object is solid - its dimensions are height (top to bottom), width (side to side) and depth (front to back).
Continent - A continent is a large land mass on Earth and there are seven: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania.
Ocean - An ocean is a very big area of salt water between the continents.
Common misconception
Africa is country.
The continent of Africa contains 54 countries.
Equipment
Atlases, maps and globes.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Is this a 3D map or a 2D map?
Q2.What is the name of the planet we live on?
Q3.What colour is water on maps usually represented as?
Q4.Land can be represented as which colours on a globe?
Q5.How many blocks of land can the land on Earth be divided into?
Q6.How many oceans are the waters on Earth divided into?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Can you match the key word to it's correct definition?
A three-dimensional map shows us what our round world looks like.
a map that shows a flat representation of our world
a large land mass on Earth: there are seven of them
Q2.What is the air above Earth's surface called?
Q3.How many oceans are there on Earth?
Q4.What are large blocks of land on Earth called?