Arthur H. Robinson was a respected cartographer and educator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Rand McNally, whose company still publishes maps and atlases, asked Robinson to develop a map with as little distortion as possible in order to provide the most accurate possible depiction of Earth. Robinson designed the map in 1963, and National Geographic helped it achieve popularity by choosing it as its reference map in 1988, printing an insert in its magazine.
Each pair of students should be provided with a grapefruit and asked to think of it as the Earth. Use a permanent marker to indicate the poles, the equator and the continents. Gently remove the skin from the fruit. ask the students to use the peel to create a flat map of the world. They will see how difficult it is to create a flat projection of a three-dimensional object, and understand the need for the little bit of distortion seen on the Robinson map projection.
Show students a Robinson projection map of the world. Discuss the continents and some of the countries on each continent. Ask the students to tell you how many countries there are on Antarctica. When they realize there are none, discuss why so few people live there and why there is no need for nations. Have them identify each continent and at least one country on each continent, except for Antarctica. End the lesson with a discussion of the relative sizes of the continents.
A conic projection is a map which is made by wrapping a cone around the globe, projecting the image of the globe onto the inside of the cone, and then flattening out the cone as a two-dimensional image. A cylindrical projection is created by wrapping a cylinder around the globe, projecting the image of the globe onto the inside of the cylinder, and then flattening the cylinder as a two-dimensional image. These maps have a lot of distortion in the polar regions.