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A Starter Activity Puzzle - What Does This Map Show?

Jim Riley

21st October 2009

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Something a little different for a business studies lesson. Put this image (bigger version linked below) on the screen or whiteboard and ask students if they can work out what it shows?

A slightly larger version of the image can be shown here (pop-up window)

blog-usamap-big-211009.gif

Students will probably come up with a variety of answers - and a great follow up question would be to ask why they came up with there solutions.

The answer?

The image shows a map of the United States, colored by the distance to the nearest McDonalds. The brightest parts of the map are locations that are right next to a McDonalds outlet -the colour gets darker as you get further away from the nearest outlet.

In case you were wondering, the furthest point from a McDonalds you can get to in the country is 107 miles (145 miles by car).

Image and idea sourced from Sociological Images

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Jim Riley

Jim co-founded tutor2u alongside his twin brother Geoff! Jim is a well-known Business writer and presenter as well as being one of the UK's leading educational technology entrepreneurs.