Walk into most any classroom, and you will see a large world map hanging somewhere on the wall. Teachers use maps for subjects like geography and social studies. In the United States and other countries, school children have long learned from one kind of world map. It is called the Mercator projection. This version of map is more than 400 years old. Gerardus Mercator, a European mapmaker, designed it for the purpose of helping sailors and ships on the high seas. Today, the Mercator projection is the map of choice for modern-day direction-finding services like Apple Maps and Google Maps. It is also the map of choice in school classrooms and textbooks. But map experts and other people say the Mercator projection should not be used in schools. They say it does not correctly show the sizes of countries and continents. It is not an easy thing to show our three-dimensional planet in just two dimensions length and width. Gerardus Mercator’s 16th-century method made countries far from Earth’s equator appear larger than they are. Countries close to the equator appear small in comparison. On Mercator maps, for example, Africa appears smaller than North America. In reality, the African continent is larger than all of North America. Mercator maps also make Greenland appear bigger than China. In fact, China is about four times larger than Greenland. Now, school officials in the U.S. state of Massachusetts are replacing the Mercator map with one that presents a different view of the world. Boston Public Schools is America’s oldest public school system. It is also the first-known American school system to use the Gall-Peters projection world map.
Title: Classrooms in Boston to Get Different Kind of World Map
Content: <div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/Untitled.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='Classrooms in Boston to Get Different Kind of World Map' data-article-id='2297'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='10542'>Walk into most any classroom, and you will see a large world map hanging somewhere on the wall.</span> <span data-start-time='10542' data-end-time='18188'>Teachers use maps for subjects like geography and social studies.</span> <span data-start-time='18188' data-end-time='29021'>In the United States and other countries, school children have long learned from one kind of world map.</span> <span data-start-time='29021' data-end-time='33021'>It is called the Mercator projection.</span> <span data-start-time='33021' data-end-time='39417'>This version of map is more than 400 years old.</span> <span data-start-time='39417' data-end-time='52271'>Gerardus Mercator, a European mapmaker, designed it for the purpose of helping sailors and ships on the high seas.</span> <span data-start-time='52271' data-end-time='65896'>Today, the Mercator projection is the map of choice for modern-day direction-finding services like Apple Maps and Google Maps.</span> <span data-start-time='65896' data-end-time='72917'>It is also the map of choice in school classrooms and textbooks.</span> <span data-start-time='72917' data-end-time='82000'>But map experts and other people say the Mercator projection should not be used in schools.</span> <span data-start-time='82000' data-end-time='89625'>They say it does not correctly show the sizes of countries and continents.</span> <span data-start-time='89625' data-end-time='100188'>It is not an easy thing to show our three-dimensional planet in just two dimensions length and width.</span> <span data-start-time='100188' data-end-time='111958'>Gerardus Mercator’s 16th-century method made countries far from Earth’s equator appear larger than they are.</span> <span data-start-time='111958' data-end-time='118188'>Countries close to the equator appear small in comparison.</span> <span data-start-time='118188' data-end-time='125917'>On Mercator maps, for example, Africa appears smaller than North America.</span> <span data-start-time='125917' data-end-time='133500'>In reality, the African continent is larger than all of North America.</span> <span data-start-time='133500' data-end-time='140583'>Mercator maps also make Greenland appear bigger than China.</span> <span data-start-time='140583' data-end-time='146979'>In fact, China is about four times larger than Greenland.</span> <span data-start-time='146979' data-end-time='161104'>Now, school officials in the U.S. state of Massachusetts are replacing the Mercator map with one that presents a different view of the world.</span> <span data-start-time='161104' data-end-time='167604'>Boston Public Schools is America’s oldest public school system.</span> <span data-start-time='167604' data-end-time='176938'>It is also the first-known American school system to use the Gall-Peters projection world map.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/new_map.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=8396 data-hint-location='29021' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/what_does_projection_mean.m4a'>What does projection mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='an estimate'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/classroom_project.m4a'><span>classroom project</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/provide_directions.m4a'><span>provide directions</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/a_new_map.m4a'><span>a new map</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/an_estimate.m4a'><span>an estimate</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=8397 data-hint-location='10542' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/what_subjects_use_maps.m4a'>What subjects use maps?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='geography and social studies'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/geography_and_social_studies.m4a'><span>geography and social studies</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/recess.m4a'><span>recess</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/reading_and_literature.m4a'><span>reading and literature</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/math_and_science.m4a'><span>math and science</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=8398 data-hint-location='111958' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/countries_close_to_the_equator_appear__blank_.m4a'>Countries close to the equator appear <span class='blank'>small</span>.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='small'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/the_same.m4a'><span>the same</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/distorted.m4a'><span>distorted</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/small.m4a'><span>small</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/1780/large.m4a'><span>large</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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