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Lessons · Teaching · continents, oceans and the lines on the globe

Continents, oceans, and the lines that are not really there

The Earth's land is grouped into continents and its water into oceans. Latitude lines run east to west and measure distance north or south of the equator; longitude lines run north to south and measure east or west of the prime meridian. The lines are a grid people invented in order to name a position.

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In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.

What it is for

Pupils regularly believe the lines are visible from a plane, and the correction matters because it separates the thing from the way we describe it. The equator does have a physical meaning, in sunlight and climate, and that distinction is worth drawing.

How to think about it

Fix latitude as the horizontal set and longitude as the vertical, then attach a consequence to each: latitude relates strongly to climate, longitude relates to time zones. A coordinate always gives latitude first.

Worked example

Latitude runs east to west and measures north or south of the equator
Parallel lines, never meeting, and closely related to climate.
Longitude runs north to south and measures east or west of the prime meridian
Meeting at the poles, and the basis of time zones.
A coordinate is written latitude first, then longitude
The same ordered-pair discipline as the mathematics road.
The lines are invented; the equator's effect on sunlight and climate is not
The description is a human choice; the consequence is physical.

Your turn

Name the line of latitude at zero degrees.

Zero degrees latitude is the

The trap

Mixing up which set runs which way. Latitude lines are flat, like the rungs of a ladder, and they measure how far up or down you are. Longitude lines run pole to pole.

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