These map scale worksheets give your 7th grade or 8th grade middle school math class ten Mini Mystery Detective cases on finding real distances from a map. Students read written scales and scale bars in metric and customary units, and it's 7.G.A.1 scale drawings practice with a stolen maps theme. Put the cases in math centers, use them as warm-ups, or send one home for homework. There's no prep, and every case has an answer key.
Every road on the maps has its map distance printed on a tag, which means nobody needs a ruler. Students multiply by the scale, look for the answer on the suspect list and cross that name off. If an answer isn't on the list, they know to check it again. When all twenty answers are right, one suspect is left over, and that's the villain.
What's Inside
- 10 one-page cases, 20 questions each, so 200 problems
- An answer key for every case
- Nine drawn maps. Case 9 is a page of written map problems instead
- Kilometers, meters and centimeters on some maps, inches and miles on others
- Trips through other places, like Ash to Elm via Bly
- A reference page on written scales, scale bars, trips, finding the scale, and going from map to real and back
- Contents, teacher instructions, a detective's case log and a Master Map Detective certificate
- 30 pages, black and white friendly
The Cases
-
The Stolen County Map - a county map with a written scale
-
The Forged Street Map - city streets and a scale bar
-
The Missing Island - an island in inches and miles
-
The Ranger's Secret - a national park scale bar
-
The Buried Treasure - treasure island distances in meters
-
The Ski Lift Swindle - a ski resort map
-
The Flooded Valley - finding the scale from one road
-
The Last Train Out - a train network in miles
-
The Coastline Charts - written map problems
-
The Summit Route - a mountain trail, mixed review
When to Use This Resource
Bring this pack in once your class has met scale drawings and is comfortable multiplying decimals, since the map tags use lengths like 3.4 cm and 2.75 in. The first six cases switch between written scales and scale bars, and the units change from kilometers to miles to meters along the way. Case 7 doesn't give a scale. Students work it out from one road whose real length they're told, then use it on the rest of the map. Case 9 asks the question the other way around too, going from a real distance back to millimeters on the map, with scales like 2 cm = 5 km. The Summit Route mixes everything with no scale given, and it makes a good review before a test.
The cases also work well with a small group, in your sub plans, as an early finisher challenge or for state test prep. The usual scale bar slip, multiplying by the number at the end of the bar, doesn't match any suspect, which helps students catch it themselves.
Grade Levels
Made for 7th grade and 7.G.A.1. It's also a useful map scale review for 8th grade.
Why Teachers Love Mystery Detectives
Every Mystery Detective pack works the same way. Once your class has solved one case, they know what to do with the next one, in this pack or any other. Each case also stands on its own, which means you can choose the one that fits what you're teaching that day. Naming the villain gives every page a clear end point, and the answer key lets you check a page quickly.
Want more cases like these?
Follow Kiwiland Education to discover more CSI Mini Mystery Detective cases, no-prep math activities, and detective-themed printables for middle school classrooms.
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Sellers-Im-Following/Add/Kiwiland
