Making statistical maps
How many elementary students become involved to some degree with statistical maps? Probably most of them do, since density and distribution concepts taught in the arithmetic program are supplemented with statistical maps found in social studies texts. A distribution or statistical map may convey information about resources, economic activities, or population data. In the past, excessive use of pictorial detail sometimes detracted from the effectiveness of these maps. How often the student bas been bewildered by a clutter of steers' heads here, a shock of corn there, and a general hodgepodge of symbols! Three standard cartographic techniques used in the construction of distribution maps will be illustrated and discussed here. There are many others—one-, two- and three-dimensional.