When doing research it is important to use primary sources
to back up your opinion. One primary source
that is often overlooked are maps. Historically,
maps have been a key component to validate the times and culture of the people
who produced them. For an educator the
use of maps provides a visual aid that adds context to a lesson being
taught. Before the internet it was hard
for an educator to have access to a large array of maps to use in the classroom
because it was not financially feasible for a school’s budget. Advances in technology have made it easier with
sites like Google for an educator to search the internet for maps. With a little research you can search for maps
of pre-communism Russia or weather maps of Superstorm Sandy posted by others to
use in your lesson plan. The problem is they
will need to filter through your results to find what you want, which is not
always easy. You might encounter paid
sites, sites that you might have to sign up for or sites full of ads that take
forever to load. If you want faster instant
gratification in your map seeking needs than the University of Texas at Austin’s
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection is the place for you.
The University of Texas at Austin has digital uploaded many
maps from their Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection and made them available
to everyone on their site. A good
portion of their maps come from the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA maps are public domain and carry no
copyright restrictions. Links to
privately owned maps are also available.
So how is this site good for educators? First it is free. In the past schools might have an outdated map
of the World, a map of the United States of America and a globe in each
classroom. Now they have access to detailed
maps from all parts of the world. Being
user friendly is another good aspect of this site. The maps available online are arranged geographically
and alphabetically. A teacher can find a
map showing the ethnic diversity of Tajikistan just as easily as finding a map
of New Jersey. The most important reason
why this is good for educators/researchers is that it is FREE. I know I mentioned this already but it is worth
repeating. All too often I have
encountered roadblocks in my online research with sites that require you to pay
to access the information you seek or the site is full of ads that take forever
to load. This site, much like Wikipedia
but reliable, seeks donations but does not charge you to use the site and it
loads quickly. For this reason alone it
is a good source to use. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
