ArcGIS Blog

Jun 23, 2026

Turning geography lessons into stories: a National Geographic MapMaker partnership

By Heidi Daulton

Effectively teaching middle schoolers in the age of technology and social media can be tough; students want flashy graphics and immersive experiences that mimic those of their favorite dopamine sources. With that in mind, the ArcGIS Storytelling team, in partnership with the Esri Tutorials team, Esri Education team, and National Geographic Education, took on the challenge of turning lessons into stories with ArcGIS StoryMaps. These stories not only provide background information but visually explain complicated social studies and earth science topics through maps.

A series of nine screen captures from various web stories arranged aesthetically in rows of three. The images depict maps, illustrations, and imagery from various geography lessons.

Students first engage with the story then move on to an inquiry-based activity using National Geographic MapMaker. MapMaker is a digital mapping tool, created by the National Geographic Society and Esri, designed for teachers, students, and National Geographic Explorers.

An animation scrolling through a guided lesson about changes in the Aral Sea; the imagery depicts an old ship stuck in sand and maps over time of the shrinking sea.

Special Considerations

These stories challenged our team in a variety of ways.

Writing globally, not locally

National Geographic Education wanted students to know two things after reading our stories: 1) geography topics apply to the entire world, not just the United States, and 2) humans are a part of Earth’s processes. We needed to carefully consider which locations we showed, and which human stories we told, to help a global audience see themselves represented.

An animation scrolling through a story about climate regions that shows temperature and precipitation differences between Mongolia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia.

Adjusting reading level

Writing to an audience of 6-8 graders is very different from writing to an audience of adults; we needed to adjust the way we talked about geography, so that concepts were not overwhelming.

A screenshot from a story that shows a paragraph of text explaining density to middle school students. The text and images compare the density of a golf ball versus a tennis ball to teach this concept.

Leaving room for inquiry

Our stories were meant to explore concepts and map layers students would later manipulate within MapMaker. We needed to familiarize students with the data without giving away all the answers.

A scrolling animation from a story about volcanoes that shows volcano locations on a globe before transitioning to a map of tectonic plates; the video shows how clicking on the term "ring of fire" will highlight the ring of fire on the map.

Making it applicable

As geospatial storytellers, we often use case studies to explore what we see on maps. These lessons were no exception; we found real world examples that resonated with middle school students, often comparing modern-day examples to historical ones.

A scrolling animation from a story about the Silk Road that shows an illustrated opening sequence comparing modern-day package delivery to historical "delivery" by camel.

Making room for innovation

The ArcGIS Storytelling team strives for innovation in all our work. With the knowledge that students crave visuals and interactivity, we sought out unique storytelling opportunities as much as possible. We also incorporated other Esri products and features.

Living Atlas

Living Atlas provided nearly all the data we needed for our storytelling. Its wealth of authoritative datasets meant we could ground our stories in real-world data. It also allowed us to introduce cartography principles not typically required by school standards, such as bivariate maps.

A screenshot from a story on climate regions that shows a global map of precipitation and temperature. The overlapping colors indicate areas of wet and hot, wet and cool, hot and dry, dry and cool.

Map viewer animations

Animation played a big role in illustrating concepts for students. We used animation to draw attention to features and show movement on our maps.

An animation of a cutaway map showing the movement of tectonic plates under the ground; the map is satellite imagery and the cutaway is located on a fault line.

ArcGIS Apps

Teachers requested interactivity within our stories; ArcGIS Dashboards, Experience Builder, and Instant Apps allowed us to create immersive experiences for readers.

A scrolling animation showing custom interactivity in a story about topographic features; the video shows that hovering over a box about Mount Fuji titled "how was it formed?" will reveal the answer "internal forces".

Better Together

ArcGIS StoryMaps is a useful educational tool. In conjunction with MapMaker, it becomes a geography powerhouse. And much like the pairing of these two products, the partnership between Esri and National Geographic Education was a perfect match. Putting together the minds of educators, geographers, and storytellers produced high-quality content that will be utilized for years to come.

Explore the Lessons

World Cultures and Geography

Geomythology: When Stories Meet Science
Climate Regions Uncovered
Cultural diffusion: the expansion of Islam
Ideas on the move: Silk Road
Sea Changes
The Dream of the West
Where the city “ends”: stories from the slopes and margins
Where the Wind Blows
Who uses water?
Trading Places
Caribbean Tourism and Gross Domestic Product

Earth Science

Exploring Topographic Features
Where Rivers Run
Making Mountains
Processes that Shape Earth’s Surface
Exploring Earthquakes
In the path of a hurricane
Lay of the Land
Sunlight and Seasons
Wildfires
What causes fresh water shortages?
Exploring the highs and lows of global temperatures
World biomes
Under the Sea
Investigating volcanoes

Heidi Daulton

Heidi Daulton is a senior project manager for Esri’s StoryMaps team. Prior to joining Esri, Heidi worked across the conservation nonprofit space doing education, GIS, and communications. She's a big fan of ultrarunning, public libraries, and her chickens.