Cartogram of the Great Compromise

GeoHistory
GeoLiteracy
Lesson Plan Content
Description: 
In this lesson students will learn that a cartogram is a thematic map on which the size and shape of a country or state is distorted to represent a statistical value. Using the 1790 U.S. census data, students will create a cartogram of the population of the states that were in existence at that time and then visually determine which states were “large” states and which states were “small” states at the time of the writing of the Constitution.
Author: 
Mary Ann Polve-Dennis Rees
Grade Range: 
8 and High School
Duration: 
1-2 class periods
Lesson Materials
Teacher Instructions: 
application/pdf iconTeacher Instructions
Student Materials: 
application/pdf iconStudent Worksheets, Assessments, and Answer Keys
image/jpeg iconCartogram with 1 to 1000 scale
image/jpeg iconCartogram with 1 to 10,000 scale
application/pdf iconUnited States in 1787 map
Related Links: 
Audio-Visual Presentation of this Lesson
Standards
National Geography Standards: 
1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information
2: How to use mental maps (a person's internalized picture of a part of Earth's surface) to organize information about people places, and environments
3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people places, and environments on Earth's surface
9: The characteristics, distribution and migration of human populations
17: How to apply geography to interpret the past