Ämnesdisposition

  • INTRODUCTION

    The origins of the Arts MiniMOOC: The World Image

    • Organisers and creators of this MiniMOOC : Renata Colomba & Roberta Accardi

      Teachers in Liceo Scientifico S. Cannizzaro, Palermo, Italy

      Renata Colomba is a History and Philosophy teacher and Roberta Accardi is an Italian Literature and Latin teacher; they both like fine art , history and working together in an international environment. 

    • Goals of the MiniMOOC "IMMO- Imago Mundi (The World Image)" :

      The MiniMOOC aims to introduce the new STEAM methodology in the curricular activity throughout the interaction of different subjects: History, Geography, Art, Math and Science. 

    It wants to make students aware of how their own idea of the world is reflected on the shape of the globe represented on a geographical map. Since ancient times, people have always needed to shape the world from their own point of view, that represents their culture in a large sense (knowledge, beliefs, etc). 

    Geographical maps can be realized in different material support (stone, paper, wood) in relation to their antiquity. They can represent a piece of land as it is known or imagined during the time and they have different purposes, not only travelling as one might expect.

    This work is addressed to pupils 14-18 aged.

    Subject objectives (History- Geography- Math):  

    - to understand the particular point of view (knowledge and beliefs) by representing a country

    - to recognize and explain people's different ideas; 

    - to make appropriate use of historical, geographical terms; 

    -  to understand the  technique of scale representation; 

    -  to understand how to draw a geographical map using the cardinal points, meridian and parallel; 

    - to select, organize and use relevant information to produce well-structured work.

    - To discuss which map today is the better representation of the World or  to  discuss criteria  for a World maps exibition in an imaginary  Museum space.

    Language Aims: to improve the glossary by presenting a lexical set on the geo-historical, science and math field.

     Skills: Integrated skills activity; analyze, discuss, create; teamwork; problem-solving; assess and evaluate.

     Final Product:  The World  maps exibition in an imaginary  Museum space.

     Materials: Photos, handouts, research-form,  smartboard;

     Time: 2.30 hours + 2.30 hours. 

     Evaluation: it will be assessed the final product: criteria to discuss and take decisions; teamwork cooperation; self-evaluation.


    • Each miniMOOC is developed on the same methodology, including the parts Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate. You can browse all miniMOOCs with guest account, however if you want to mark the checked resources (which you explored, which still need to be explored), to post something in Forum, to provide us Feedback or to do Moodle tests - you need to self-create an account by selecting login and creating an account with your Gmail (or other) acount.

    • Discussion forum

      Please self-create an account if you want to post something - we would appreciate any comments of suggestions or questions (just note that project ended in August 2022 and it may take time for us to respond).

  • PART 1 - ENGAGE (30 min.)

    The goal in this part is to introduce the MiniMOOC to the participants with a general introduction to the course and a launching activity.

    At the beginning of the activity, the teacher shows some pictures related to very unusual or odd maps inviting pupils to guess where and when they were created. They have to find out the maps’ point of view and to investigate who built them and in which period. 

    You can find as  resources 5 maps.

     Discuss with your classmate to investigate: 

    • who might built them? 
    • in which period?
    • what was relevant to show in them?
    • what purpouse they were made for? 

    If an online Forum activity to share opinion is preferred, we suggest to use Padlet as a tool.  Here is a useful video on "How to Create a Padlet "  

    .

    Accessible for downloading:


  • PART 2 - EXPLORE (30' min.)

    Is the Earth Flat? Are you sure to really know how the World is?

    Which is the right map of the World, today? 

     Pupils are provided with different contemporary representations of the World and they try to understand which one is the right one and why. They observe and  discuss together the reason of the different views. 

    They are also stimulate to check and to compare the real size of each country.

    In this part of the activity we suggest to use:

    • Five contemporary geographical maps freely downloaded by the web; 
    • The true size: a tool to compare different sizes of countries.

  • PART 3 - EXPLAIN (1.30' hour)

    Why all the world maps are wrong !

    Pupils are provided with a math practical lesson to understand the use of a scale representation by the Cartesian axes and they practice on that. How it is possible to transfer a spherical surface on a plane? Which kind of maps use different projection ways? How Meridians and Parallels work?

    Selfcheck questions are provided by  Nearpod and EdPuzzle.

    In this part of the activity we suggest to use:

    • A video  to explain "Why all the world maps are wrong" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIID5FDi2JQ);
    • The same video  to explain "Why all the world maps are wrong", using Nearpod with selfcheck questions  https://app.nearpod.com/presentation?pin=N34WS;
    • The same video  with questions in EdPuzzle .

    In the second part, students (in  groups) are asked to discuss in an imaginary "World meeting"  to choose  the map to represent the World.  They are invited to search more on Gall- Peters and to present their position  in a public speech . 

    The better solution will be voted.

    Useful material to learn more about that are: 

    • Map projections, a post from Wikipedia (free encyclopedia);

    • A summary of map projections that are  somehow notable, from  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;

    • On maps and racism: "Most world maps show north at the top. But it doesn't have to be that way" posted  By Gary Nunn (Gary Nunn is an award winning journalist. He previously wrote a regular column for the Guardian's; he now writes features and opinion articles for major media outlets in Australia and the UK).

  • PART 4 - EXTEND (2 hours)

     “The World Image”: create your exhibition!*

    In this part, you will find an addictional activity  in order to develop more knowledge and skills connected to the course.

    More advanced students will be able to do this tasks for deeper learning.

    In this  section, the aim is to create a Museum with 4 exposition areas (virtual or real) based on criteria (discussed by students in teams) to present the maps.

    • Students (in  groups) are asked to organize the exhibition “The World Image”  and to divide the maps into 4 spaces, identifying the criteria.  
    • They  are provided with 12 different maps and they are invited to understand who produced them (space and time) by using a table sheet (below attached). 
    • They discuss and make their decisions  (making hypotheses, and testing their own predictions, they should develop higher-order thinking skills). 
    • The teacher takes the role of defining the context for inquiry and  he/she stimulates the students to define their relevant questions, construct coherent explanations, communicate and share their results.

    In this part of the activity  are accessible for downloading:
    • A gallery with 12 geographical maps;
    • A table sheet " Which map are you observing?" to guide students to  understand the maps in a cronological  way . 
    • The table sheet " Which map are you observing?" to check the information (for teachers only).


    * This activity is based on Marco Cecalupo reserches, Laboratorio “Le carte del mondo”, Historia Ludens association.

  • PART 5 - EVALUATE (30' min.)


    Students are provided with a self-evaluation questionnaire  (attached below) to test themselves and the activity as well.  The aim is  to make the students  able to express their general impression.  Particularly, questions from 1 to 6 are related to what they learned; questions from 7 to 16 are related  to the different skills developed; questions from 17 to 19 are related to the satisfaction and improvement suggested by the students. 

    The same aspects are checked by an evaluation grid based on the teacher observation (also attached below).


  • Additional materials (related to the MiniMooc topic) to browse