Visual Aids Lesson - Maps

Visual aids are images that assist the reader in understanding text, whether that text is on a book page or a computer screen. A visual aid can be a picture, map, cartoon, graph, table, pie chart, flow chart, or diagram as well as a figure, time line, or illustration in a story, article, or text selection.


Students will examine and share information on the use of visual aids, using Google Maps.

Detailed Description of lesson:

Maps convey geographical information which can help you understand distance relationships (through mileage legends) and the influence of physical features such as rivers, oceans, and mountains. Often maps show the location of specific populations or trends related to them.

For example, look at the Google Map which shows how much money per hour people earn working in the garment industry in different parts of the world.


View Hourly Wages Estimates for Garmet Industry Workers in the United States and Selected Countries in a larger map

Notice that the title for the map is “Hourly Wage Estimates for Garment Industry Workers in the United States and Selected Countries.” It’s important to understand that the numbers shown on the map are not exact but pretty close. The numbers graphically illustrate the reason that garment manufacturers have moved their factories from the United States and Europe to other parts of the world. Rather than pay about $9.50 per hour to a worker in the United States, some corporations moved their operations to, for example, El Salvador; where the workers made the equivalent of about $1.28 per hour, or to Bangladesh, where people worked for between 10 cents and 31 cents per hour.

After students have studied the Google Map on Hourly Wage Estimates for Garment Industry Workers in the United States, use the blog to post answers to the Visual Aids lesson questions.