The K-l2 education in Taiwan paid very little attention to map teaching in past decades. Such ignorance consequently prevents students from cultivating their ability of map reading. Their knowledge of topographic maps is thus limited to mere understanding of model contour map. Therefore, how to enhance the students' abilities to read and use topographic maps is a major task for geography educators. In this paper, it will be discussed how the high school teachers teach map, and how the learning and instructional material influence the students' performance on map reading. It's found that the methods most teachers use for topographic maps teaching are activities, metaphors, reasoning, testing explanation and photographing. It is also found that the students performed better when the topographic map is presented as formal learning or teaching materials than when they are merely presented as informal materials.