Students explore the reasons for the seasons. In this season lesson,students use flashlights to demonstrate the movement of the Earth and how it influences the seasons. Students label pictures and discuss what would happen if the...

Students explore and examine how maps have been used in navigation. They research how travelers collected observations to keep track of their positions and plotted information on maps. Each student then makes a Mercator projection...

Students, after reading a novel, utilize geographic skills to map out the places described in the novel. They collect data, envision spatial features and then design a map to work off of to complete their assignment. Each student also...

Learners round out their math skills with these ‘round the world' ideas. In this math and geography instructional activity, students try out time zone sticks, a polar race, and tic-tac-globe to engage them in learning more about globes...

Students study the different types of coastlines and their territories. In this marine coasts instructional activity students identify life forms that are in the coastal regions. 

Young scholars living in Hawaii draw a picture of themselves in their neighborhood. They draw their neighborhood in relation to their district and then in relation to the island they are from. They compare their pictures to their...

Middle schoolers go on a GPS scavenger hunt. They use GPS receivers to find designated waypoints and report back on what they found. They compute distances between waypoints based on the latitude and longitude, and compare with the...

Young scholars explore the location, place, human-environmental interactions, movement, and regions of the New Hampshire landscape through the use of visual representations.

Students examine the formation of seamounts in the Gulf of Alaska. In this seamount lesson, student focus on how the Axial-Cobb-Eikelberg-Patton chain was formed. They learn the associated vocabulary, and watch a teacher demonstration of...

Strict habitat requirements are needed for the survival of fish populations and fish variety in the Great Lakes. Young scientists become experts in the basic needs of fish and understand how survival necessities can vary with different...

Students hypothesize the location of the sun in the sky at diferent times of day and at different latitudes. They perform several experiments to provide evidence for their hypothesis. Experiments including observing the sun's position at...

Where can you see an aurora in North America? After completing an astronomy activity, scholars can locate the exact coordinates. Pupils plot points of the inner and outer ring of the auroral oval and answer questions based on...

Compare surface temperatures when the solstice occurs in the different hemispheres. Young scientists draw conclusions from their investigation of data collected using spreadsheets and a globe.

Students use a tennis ball and paper to construct a student-made globe. They sketch in continents and major map features and then compare a flat map to a globe.

Students practice map skills. In this map skills lesson, students locate the cities of New York and Paris on a map. Students read about the flight made by Charles Lindbergh in May 1927 from New York to Paris. Students answer 8 questions...

Students make a map of an imaginary island using the topographic symbols provided from a worksheet. Students place lakes, dwellins, reefs, etc. in areas where they would logically be located from understanding how the topography of an...

Middle schoolers, through teacher lecture and class discussion, explore historical methods of navigation: dead reckoning and celestial navigation.

Students use the Live Access Server (LAS) to form maps and a numerical text file of snow cover for each continent on a particular date and analyze the data for each map, corresponding text file to determine an estimate of snow cover for...

Students explore islands. They create a two- or three-dimensional map of an island. They explain how the topography of an area influences the location of water sources, ecosystems, and human settlements. Lesson includes adaptations for...

Students identify the location of parallel and meridian coordinates. They illustrate their understanding of the physical shape of the continent of Africa through a mapping activity, then explain the processes that have influenced the...

Basically, pupils look for a current world event from a reputable source and identify the five themes of geography within it. Throughout the school year, they keep a notebook of these current events. A grading guideline is outlined, and...

Students record observations gathered while at a national wildlife refuge. In this lesson on wildlife refuges, students choose an observation spot and record seasonal changes throughout the year.

Students identify and locate cattle trails on a globe. In this map skill lesson, students use a marker to locate Texas and Montana and use the map scale to calculate the distance of the cattle trail.

Students create a map of the classroom using the computer programs AppleWorks and iChat in this math-based technology lesson. Lesson extension ideas include a scavenger hunt and maps of other school buildings.