Waldorf students not only create curriculum workbooks but also maps. What is the purpose of drawing maps in geography lessons? What are the pitfalls and possible solutions?
Drawing maps creates a much more intimate connection than looking at printed ones. This creative approach deepens the knowledge of geography on a level that is not purely abstract and intellectual.
Having drawn several maps of the British Isles in our Class 5 Geography Main Lesson, we visited a local museum. At its entrance, a large silhouette of these isles was decoratively mounted on the wall.
Seeing it made the children experience a jolt of joyful recognition. They pointed out the plain shape to each other and smiled conspiratively. “We know what that is!”
And they didn’t just recognise the shape of their homeland, they also knew a lot of detail.
This example illustrates the deeper purpose of our ongoing Do-It-Yourself bookwork.
In producing pages of written text, illustrations and maps, this bonding with the world is repeated on a daily basis.
And as a result, joyful jolts of recognition are likely to occur throughout life.
In geography, as in other subjects, Waldorf teaching is not primarily concerned with memorising facts and data. It is more about forming a loving connection with the face of the earth: its surface.
From this perspective, drawing maps is to create artistic ‘earth portraits’.
DRAWING MAPS IN CLASS 4
Our study of geography begins at age 9-10 with the immediate surroundings: the child’s room at home, the classroom and the village. These are imagined as a bird would see them.
These first map drawings reflect an imaginative process that shifts the children’s habitual outlook on the world to the view from above:
At this point, map-drawing is the kind of visual storytelling that echoes mankind’s early approach.
DRAWING MAPS IN CLASS 5
Any modern map is a very special kind of image, being the visual outcome of a myriad careful measurements and complex calculations.
At age 10-11 we now focus on the factual side of such maps. Topic, scale, distance, location – every aspect and feature gets its importance from a precisely defined relation to the whole.
And, in learning to read and interpret these aspects, the children realise that the value of maps, charts and site plans depends entirely on their accuracy.
THE PITFALLS
Which brings us to the following problem: It is sometimes seen that classes are asked to draw or even paint complex maps freehand.
But freehand drawing or painting dismisses the accuracy that is of chief importance in a map. And because the task is so very difficult, only a small percentage of the group will achieve a pleasing result.
Though it has become a Waldorf tradition, in most cases the freehand drawing and painting of maps can be considered a waste of time.
The only ‘earth portrait’ my class and I ever drew freehand after Class 4 is this one, for obvious reasons:
Note: Never ask children to draw what trained and skilled adults would struggle with. And avoid setting tasks that allow only the most capable few to achieve a satisfying result.
THE SOLUTION
To level the field and make drawing maps enjoyable and meaningful for everyone, regardless of ability, I recommend the following tips and tricks:
- In an atlas, choose the map you want to use.
- Use tracing paper to draw the coastline of the region that is to be studied.
- Enlarge or reduce this shape to fit your Main Lesson Book format.
- Photocopy this template a few times. Small groups can take turns.
- Mount the templates on the windowpanes with masking tape.
- If available, borrow a set of light-boxes from the Upper School lab.
- Use mounting putty to fix the paper’s corners to the template.
- Show how to trace the backlit template’s shorelines with care.
- Use light-blue pencil that can be made to disappear when shading the seas.
This graphic designer’s method helps everyone to create appealing and sufficiently accurate maps with ease, making optimal use of limited time.
THE PEDAGOGICAL PURPOSE
- In tracing, our eyes, hands and mind work together in a focused way.
- Following the land’s contour attentively, we commit its shape to memory.
- The stress and strain of ‘getting it right’ is replaced by confident interest.
- Shading this shape in various ways establishes a personal relationship.
- Labelling each part with careful lettering deepens the learning process.
- Repeating this process for several topical maps anchors knowledge.
Hand, heart and mind are engaged; thinking, feeling and will forces addressed simultaneously.
For my map drawing on the blackboard, I used the same template with the Upper School’s overhead projector. Fortunately, this outmoded piece of equipment can still be found in many schools.
There is no point spending hours getting your freehand map drawing to look right. Steiner’s demand for “economy in teaching” can also mean setting practical priorities.
Instructions and illustrations in my detailed guide for this block, adaptable to any country:
DRAWING MAPS IN CLASS 6
This year shifts the focus from one’s homeland to the home continent, and now the students get their personal copy of a school atlas.
Besides the two large maps displayed in the classroom (one physical, one political), the topic can be enhanced with geography puzzles and geography board games. (Just google these terms.)
Map-drawing as bookwork continues with the established process of tracing, shading and labelling. And at age 11-12, new levels of skill and attention to detail become apparent.
In addition to this map drawing, I handed out prepared photocopies that showed a faint grey outline of the continent. These had the same A3 format as our loose-leaf Main Lesson Book and were used to show various aspects.
Instructions and illustrations in my detailed guide for this block, adaptable to any continent:
GEOGRAPHY BEFORE HISTORY
One of the earliest Waldorf teachers told Rudolf Steiner that he could not get his class interested in Ancient Egypt. What should he do?
Steiner’s response was a question: “Do they know where Egypt is?”
From this we learn that the geography of a place is best taught before its history.
The study of Europe’s geography sets the scene for the history of the Roman Empire. And World Geography does the same for the study of navigators, explorers and empire-builders.
To follow geography with history creates a rounded picture and helps to make our students feel at home in the world.
DRAWING MAPS IN CLASS 7
When an artist parent donated a class set of large canvas frames, it sparked the idea to complement our study of printed world maps with the creation of a personal version.
The class learnt to use the overhead projector to transfer a prepared template’s shorelines onto the canvas in pencil, and then used acrylic paint for the design.
Whenever the weather was fine, we worked outdoors. If it rained, the classroom was converted to an atelier.
This project, begun in the Geography Main Lesson, needed much time and had to be completed in our weekly Art lessons, the occasional cover lesson and other available slots.
Everyone decided if their map was to be about physical features or countries. And, after the two history blocks that followed, the routes of great explorers were added to many of these maps.
MAP PROJECTIONS
The interesting problem of how to portray the curved surface of the globe accurately on a plane can be touched upon in the World Geography block. Even so, getting to know the different kinds of map projection is a topic for Class 10.
The mature understanding of our Upper School students builds on their earlier creative map drawing, and so they are able to appreciate the history of map-making in a more direct and personal way.
