An Atlas of Virginia

An Atlas of Virginia Teacher Guide 2020 Authors: Sandra Carter, Annie Evans, Donna Fontaine, Georgeanne Hribar, Donna Shifflett, Christina Troxell, and Jamie Young Reviewers: Camille Hodges and Dennis Hribar About the cover Human activity and natural forces change landcover over time. The image on the cover shows land cover in Virginia in 2016. Use the cover to provide students with an overview of the area of in which your school is located. Have students use the map’s legend to identify the major land cover in their part of the state. Ask students to identify other types of landcover near their school. The information below provides an explanation of how to read the matrix that quantifies the changes in land cover since 2001. Have students compare the numbers from the Total in 2001 column for a landcover type with the Total in 2016 row at the bottom of the table. For example, water landcover in 2001 was 768 square miles and increased to 777 square miles in 2016. What could account for the change? Examine the water column to identify the types of landcover that changed. The largest increase, 10 square miles, came from the change of wetlands to water. A small loss of forest, open land, and agriculture landcovers contributed to the increase in water. Discuss the possible positive and negative consequences of change from one type of landcover to another. A zoomable online map is available at XXXXXXXXX. Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................... 1 Enslaved African Americans in Virginia’s Population, 1860 .............................................. 50 Geography and Mapping Civil War Battles in Virginia and Vicinity .............. 51 What is Geography? ............................................. 5 Massive Resistance in Virginia ............................. 52 What questions do geographers ask? .................. 6 What tools do geographers use? .......................... 7 Climate in Virginia How do geographers decide which type Average Annual Precipitation............................... 54 of map to use? .................................................. 8 Climate at Richmond, Virginia .............................. 55 What do thematic maps show? ............................ 9 Average Annual Snowfall ..................................... 56 Parts of a map ....................................................... 11 How do maps and globes differ? .......................... 12 Natural Hazards in Virginia Tracking Hurricanes .............................................. 59 Locating Virginia Significant Landfalling Hurricanes in Virginia Virginia in the World ............................................ 13 2000--2008 ....................................................... 60 Virginia in North America ..................................... 15 Tornadoes in Virginia, 1950-2015 ........................ 61 Virginia in the 48 Contiguous States ..................... 17 Earthquake Epicenters in Virginia Virginia and Bordering States ............................... 19 and Nearby States ........................................... 62 Elevations of Virginia ............................................ 20 Major Watersheds in Virginia ............................... 22 People of Virginia Rivers & Fall Line Cities of Virginia ........................ 23 Population of Counties and Independent Water Features Important to the History Cities, 2015 ..................................................... 64 of Virginia ......................................................... 25 Population of Towns & Cities over 10,000, 2015 ................................................................. 66 Regional characteristics Urban Population, 2010 ....................................... 68 Five Landform Regions of Virginia ....................... 26 Virginia’s State-Recognized Tribes, 2018 ............. 69 Coastal Plain Region ............................................. 27 Piedmont Region .................................................. 28 Transportation in Virginia Blue Ridge Region ................................................. 30 Major Roads of Virginia (map) ............................. 70 Valley and Ridge Region ....................................... 32 Railroad Transportation, 2015 ............................. 71 Appalachian Plateau Region ................................. 34 Economy of Virginia History of Virginia Agriculture in Virginia Today ................................ 73 American Indian Language Groups circa 1600 ..... 35 Virginia’s Major Trading Partners......................... 74 Route to Jamestown, 1606-1607 .......................... 37 Why is Richmond important? ............................... 75 Virginia Colonial Settlement, 1607-1699 .............. 39 Symbols of Virginia ............................................... 76 How does 1619 connect the past List of Graphics ..................................................... 77 to the present? ................................................. 40 Map Interpretations Correlations ........................ 78 Virginia Colonial Settlements, 1700-1775 ........... 42 Narrative Page Correlations ................................. 80 Colonial Trade Patterns ........................................ 43 Virginia Land Claims 1609-Present ....................... 45 Maps The Battle of Great Bridge .................................... 46 World Outline map ............................................... 83 Revolutionary War in Virginia ............................... 47 Virginia Regions Outline Map ............................... 84 Agricultural Products in Virginia, 1860 ................. 48 Virginia Federal Lands .......................................... 85 An Atlas of Virginia, Teacher Guide ii An Atlas of Virginia Teacher Guide Introduction The purpose of this document is to identify key geographic concepts and content presented in the maps and facing narrative pages in the Virginia Atlas. The content for each page is framed by an organizing question. The Overview section provides additional information for the teacher and explanations of key geographic concepts. Maps, the basic tool of geographers, present a wide variety of information in a spatial context. Each map has a theme or a topic of interest such as Population of Virginia, Century Farms, or Colonial Trade Patterns. Each map has features such as country names, river names, or city names. Each feature has attributes or descriptors. For example, attributes for a city would include its status as a capital, population, date it was founded, and origin of its name. Features and attributes organized according to a theme comprise the information contained in a map. In this teacher document, the ODCAR model is used to organize a process for map interpretation. ODCAR is an acronym for Observe, Describe, Compare, Analyze, and Reflect, all steps involved in interpreting the information presented in a map. By following the ODCAR model, student thinking progresses from the literal “what do you observe?” question to the analytical “why there?” Each stage of the ODCAR model is described in the paragraphs that follow. Observation is a basic skill in which students identify elements on the map in general terms. In the Observe phase, students use a literal approach as they examine the map. Key questions focus on what topic of the map and the symbols used to convey information. A sample observe response would include the statements similar to the following: • I see lines connecting places, • I see symbols for different things shown on the map, • I see that some symbols are bigger than others, and • some symbols are different colors. • I see that the map includes a title, scale, and legend. In the Describe phase, students use the language of a geographer to describe the location of key features shown on the map. Students have an opportunity to apply cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west) and intermediate or ordinal directions (southeast, northwest, etc.) to describe location. On a global scale, students can use the concept of hemispheres to describe a feature’s relative location. For example, most of the world’s land is located in the northern hemisphere. If applicable, latitude and longitude coordinates can be used to describe location. For example, most of the world’s deserts are located between 20º and 30º latitude. An Atlas of Virginia, Teacher Guide 1 The Compare phase focuses on comparing different areas in a map or on two or more maps. A map can be divided into quadrants or halves in order to facilitate language used in stating comparisons, e.g., the northern or upper part of the map has more cities. Key questions would include: • How are the patterns on the map alike or different? • What areas of the map show clustering? • Does the distribution of two features show similar patterns? • How do the attributes of the features differ? Students can also describe the arrangement of the features on the map using terms such as linear, circular, or perhaps random. Students can also describe the concentration of features on the map as either dense—sparse, or clustered—separated. In some cases, there may be an expression of density such as population per square mile or tractors per acre. Comparisons of people to places with different land areas or population is more accurate when expressed as a percent. For example, the population of Fairfax County is much larger than that of the most populous city in the state, Virginia Beach. If the number of measle cases or any other variable were to be compared,

Load more