Curated OER
Where the City Meets the Tree: Urban Forestry
Define the term "urban forestry"; discuss several problems facing urban forests today and both government and public efforts centered on developing and maintaining sustainable urban forests. Develop a feasible action plan for alternative...
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 2: Why Are There Cities? A Historical Perspective
Students investigate the importance of food surpluses to the historical development of urban ecosystems.
Curated OER
Urban Centers and African-American Migrants
Students read narratives about the experiences of 19th century fugitive slaves that fled to urban centers. They conduct further research on the African-American urban migration movement and present their findings to the class.
Skyscraper Museum
Designing a Skyscraper
Besides serving as awe-inspiring monuments of human achievement, skyscrapers are built to perform a wide range of functions in urban communities. The second lesson plan in this series begins by exploring the history of the Empire State...
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 2: Why are There Cities? A Historical Perspective
Second in a series of five lessons, this lesson plan encourages preteens to consider cities as urban ecosystems. First, they keep a food diary for a few days. They visit the Natrional Agricultural Statistics Service website for current...
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 3: Cities as Population Centers
Middle schoolers discover that throughout history cities have been centers of population but that human exploitation of fossil fuels was key to the growth of large cities worldwide. They research urban growth through a number of websites.
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 5: In Defense Of Cities
Students explain that while cities have unattractive features, the density of human life enables energy efficiency, mass transit, recycling, and other benefits which are difficult or impossible in rural areas. This is the fifth in an...
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 4: Metabolism of Urban Ecosystems
Cities are compared to living, breathing, metabolizing organisms. Fourth in a five-part series of lessons, this one focuses on the flow of materials through a city. Links to interesting websites and images make your delivery of...
Curated OER
Cities
Young scholars examine U.S. Census figures. In this urban centers lesson, students compare city populations across the span of 50 years. Young scholars create line graphs based on the data.
Curated OER
Urban Ecosystems 4: Metabolism of Urban Ecosystems
Students discover that material and energy uses by a city come from outside the city boundaries. They realize that the pathway of these material is linear instead of cyclical as they are in natural ecosystems.
Smithsonian Institution
Art to Zoo: Life in the Promised Land: African-American Migrants in Northern Cities, 1916-1940
This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...
Curated OER
How Do Artists Effectively Relate Historic Events?
Students explore African American migration. In this black culture and history lesson, students use a map to identify northern and southern states in which African Americans lived in the 1900s. Students observe and describe objects and...
Virginia Repertory Theatre
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
Accompany the story, Town Mouse Country Mouse by Jan Brett with an assortment of activities designed to reinforce concepts covering story structure, comprehension, grammar, and social studies. Here, scholars identify the difference...
National Wildlife Federation
Quantifying Land Changes Over Time Using Landsat
"Humans have become a geologic agent comparable to erosion and [volcanic] eruptions ..." Paul J. Crutzen, a Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist. Using Landsat imagery, scholars create a grid showing land use type, such as urban,...
Curated OER
Urban Geography
In this geography skills worksheet, students respond to 28 short answer questions about urban geography. The reading that students should refer to in order to answer the questions is not included.
Curated OER
URBAN WILDERNESS AND PARKS
Student examine the need for and the problems of wilderness areas which are located close to urban centers. They discuss their concept of wilderness, write down their perceptions and report to the class.
Curated OER
Before the Industrial Revolution
In this European history learning exercise, students respond to 18 short answer questions about European production, urban centers, and pre-Industrial Europe.
Skyscraper Museum
Building a Skyscraper
The construction of skyscrapers is no simple undertaking, involving the careful coordination and planning of many different people. The third instructional activity in this series explores this detailed process by first teaching children...
Smithsonian Institution
A Ticket to Philly—In 1769: Thinking about Cities, Then and Now
While cities had only a small fraction of the population in colonial America, they played a significant role in pre-revolutionary years, and this was certainly true for the largest city in the North American colonies: Philadelphia. Your...
Curated OER
Community Centered Neighborhood Development
Ninth graders explore the culture of the neighborhood. In this Social Studies lesson, 9th graders examine the different development sites in their community. Students research the zoning regulations.
Curated OER
Social Studies, Music, The Blues, Urbanization, and Technology
Enable students to use the blues to explore urbanization, technology, and their effects on everyday life in the 20th century. Musicians were among the large number of people who, between 1914 and 1945, participated in the Great Migration...
Curated OER
Designs for Urban Life
Students analyze the design of cities and systems as an architecture analysis. In this architecture analysis activity, students complete image based discussion and two related activities for the activity.
Curated OER
Urbanization and Native Hawaiian Plants
Fourth graders research plants native to the Hawaiian Islands. Using the plants, they identify its purpose in the watershed and ways to help protect them from extinction. They survey a area of land and discover ways in which to bring...
Curated OER
Tribal Termination & Urbanization
Students are introduced to new vocabulary words associated with tribes and relocation. As a class, they listen to their teacher read an excerpt on tribal termination and urbanization. To end the lesson, they identify how this act...