Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center
Areas of Focus: Maps, geographic and spatial awareness, Boston neighborhoods, critical thinking, connecting the past and present, primary source inquiry, ArcGIS (creating maps), "Maptivists" initiative
Available Programs
To Register for a Field Trip: Contact Lynn Brown, Education Coordinator lbrown@leventhalmap.org
or Michelle LeBlanc, Director of Education mleblanc@leventhalmap.org
Website: https://www.leventhalmap.org
Social Media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/bplmaps
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bplmaps/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bplmaps/
Program Fees: All of our programs are free for Boston Public Schools
Elementary Programming
What is a Map?
(Grades 1-2)
This program teaches students how to interpret maps by encouraging them to read the stories being told by mapmakers.
People Shape the Earth & the Earth Shapes People
(Grades 2-5)
After an introductory lesson on maps and mapping, students work together to consider our relationships to the environment by examining regional maps of the United States.
Mapping America - (Grade 3-8)
Students learn the basics of mapmaking and the many ways maps tell stories before breaking into small groups to explore a range of maps of the United States, from some of the oldest in our collection to the present. Possible themes: 1) how regional maps tell stories about the expansion of the US or 2) how thematic maps reveal a mapmaker’s purpose.
Kids Count!: Mapping Children in Boston
(Grades 3-8)
Students explore different ways cartographers have represented the presence of children in Boston for different purposes. Along the way they learn about geospatial data and GIS (geographic information systems), the power of symbology, and the importance of considering a mapmaker’s purpose. They also try their hand at geospatial data visualization.
All Grades including Middle and High School Programming
World Maps Over Time (Grade 6-8)
Students practice being critical map readers using a range of world maps, from the oldest in our collection to the present. After an interactive lesson on map projections, students work in small groups to analyze what mapmakers include on their maps and why.
Native People and Settler Colonialism--A Story of Land and Maps
(Grade 4-12)
Students learn the basics of mapmaking and explore maps made by Indigenous and Euro-American cartographers to uncover Native presence and the dispossession of Native lands.
Boston Over Time
Grades 5-12
In this program, students use maps to discover how Boston’s landscape has been transformed over the course of its history. In a hands-on activity, students will examine maps spanning the past four hundred years to better understand how Boston has changed in tandem with its population and industry.
Mapping the American Revolution (Grade 3, 5 and 8-12)
Students will investigate the struggle for control of New England by using period maps to uncover information about the historical actors in the Revolution, the significance of geography, and the motives of the mapmakers.
Grade 8 Civics Topics
Programs can be developed on any of these topics:
America's Founding: maps of early European settlement, the colonial era, and the Revolutionary period to support study of the Founders
Civil War: maps that illuminate topics of slavery, territorial expansion and conditions during the Antebellum and Civil War periods
Understanding Elections: election maps throughout U.S. history that support learning about the electoral process, districting, and enfranchisement
Massachusetts districting and electoral maps
Boston neighborhoods
High school
The Map Center has worked with high school teachers to develop sessions on French colonization and the spread of language, GIS asset/advocacy mapping of Boston neighborhoods, immigration to Boston past and present, and many other topics. We will work with you to create programming that works with your curriculum.
Transportation Options
School Bus Availability:
No, our organization does not offer buses.
MBTA Accessibility :
We are MBTA accessible: Take the Orange Line to Back Bay or the Green Line to Copley
Buses: #39, #9, #10 and #11
Past Exhibitions: America Transformed: Mapping the 19th Century (Until May 2020)
The geography of tribal nations living east of the Mississippi River changed drastically by the 1830s, as depicted on this map accompanying a report concerning the establishment of a new Western Territory reserved for Native people. As American settlers moved into the Ohio River Valley, numerous tribes were forced to cede their lands and relocate west of the Mississippi River. In addition, the 1830 Indian Removal Act mandated the mass removal of the Tsalagi (Cherokee), Mvskoke (Creek), Chahta (Choctaw), Chickasha (Chickasaw), and Semvnole (Seminole) living in southeastern United States. Although this new territory was promised as theirs in perpetuity, it was eventually opened for settlement and statehood for Oklahoma.
