One teacher designed the following game. He sent a student out of the room and told the rest of the class to choose a spot in the room. The class determined the coordinates of the spot relative to Mr. Origin. The teacher then chose one student to give directions. When the first student came back, the direction-giver gave directions relative to Mr. Origin (e.g., 6 steps right and 9 steps back). The student returning to the room then used the directions to find the spot.
Look through your Social Studies materials to see whether you can find a map that uses a coordinate system. A street map might use letters going east and west and numbers going north and south. Some geographical maps use latitude and longitude lines, an example of standardized coordinates. Other standardized directions include north, south, east, and west; these directions never change in the real world. When we look at a map, north is often placed at the top. Some maps, however, may be organized in a different way.
