A New Way to Look at an Old Map

Abstract

Erwin Raisz's Landform Map of the United States has been a popular teaching aid in geology and geography departments for decades. Most often it supplements text or lab-exercise materials as an illustration of physiographic features. Its intrinsic value has recently been increased by making it the subject of a jigsaw puzzle. As a jigsaw puzzle, Raisz's map capitalizes on the three-fold puzzle assembly procedure of 1) scrutinizing, 2) searching, and 3) matching. Both large-scale province characteristics and small-scale landform details are helpful clues, as individual puzzle pieces are placed at the focus of attention. The names of physiographic features, their locations and relative scale are all reinforced. Puzzle assembly, therefore, represents a unique way to expose students to the details of Raisz's map, without the need for written exercise material.