FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIAL STUDIES

WHAT DO WE NEED TO KNOW TO BE GOOD SOCIAL

SCIENTISTS AND HISTORIANS?

MAPS!

• In order for us to be good social scientists, we need to know how to read maps.

• We need to know how to use a compass rose.• We need to know what latitude and longitude

are.• We need to know where the equator and the

prime meridian are.• We need to know the names of the continents

and the oceans.

Compass Rose

• A compass rose is a device that tells us where north, south, west, and east are. You can find this device in many of today’s GPS systems.

Longitude and Latitude

• Longitude: lines on a map running east and west. The longitudinal line with a degree of 0 is called the Equator

• Latitude: lines on a map running north and south. The Prime Meridian is the line of latitude with a degree of 0.

What are continents?

• A continent is a large landmass at least partially surrounded by water.

• There are 7 continents on our planet.• They are: North America, South America,

Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia & Antarctica• Almost every continent contains multiple

countries. Australia and Antarctica are not divided into smaller countries.

What are countries?

• North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Africa all contain many different countries.

• On maps, the names of the countries are usually in all capital letters.

• In pairs, find 2 countries in each of these 5 continents.

What are cities?

• Cities are places where many people settle and can be as little as a few thousand people and as big as millions of people.

• Los Angeles currently has about 4 million people! It is the 2nd largest city in the U.S. after New York, which has over 8 million people!

Oceans, Seas, Lakes, Rivers

There are many different bodies of water on our planet. What are the differences?

1.What are oceans?2.What are seas?3.What are lakes?4.What are rivers?