Africa

Boston Schools Adopt New, More Accurate Map of the World

The students in Boston Public Schools are now looking at the world in a different way.

"The new map really allows the students to get a greater sense of how large the continents are in relations to others," said Natacha Scott, director of social students at Boston Public Schools.

On Thursday, the Peter's Map was officially implemented into the curriculum - believed to be the first public school district in the country to do so.

When you first see the map, it's a head scratcher.

Continents and countries are elongated compare to what has been traditionally taught in school.

For hundreds of years the Mercator Map was seen as the resolute look at the world.

Turns out, the Mercator Map is not entirely accurate.

The Mercator's Map is better for navigational purposes, while the Peter's Map shows land masses more to scale.

"Here we have Greenland," said Scott. "Over here is just about the same size if not larger as Africa on the Mercator map and then when we think about the actual area that's all the way up there in relation to Africa, it's actually much smaller."

The map is being introduced to the 2nd, 7th and 11th grades.

"I didn't get that when I was a student," said 5th grade teacher Denise Sonnie. "I think it would have been really important for me to see this type of map."

The Mercator Map will stick around. The Peter's will simply be taught side-by-side

It's all a part of the school district's 3-year plan to added different perspectives to the classroom.

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