To gain insight into the many different types of habitats, individuals must first get to know their own. Here, scholars explore their school environment, draw a map, compare and contrast their surroundings to larger ones. They then...

How are maps like fish? They both have scales. The chapter includes six different activities at three different levels. Scholars complete activities using natural resources, learn how to read a map, see how to make a compass rosette,...

Before maps went mobile, people actually had to learn how to read maps. Pupils look at map elements in order to understand how to read them and locate specific locations. Finally, young cartographers discover how to make aerial maps.

The Kuril islands stretch from Japan to Russia, and the ongoing dispute about their jurisdiction prevents many scientific research studies. Scholars learn to create a topographic profile of a specific area around their schools. Then they...

Designed to use when teaching adults preparing for their high school equivalency exam, the resource integrates reading practice, writing, and analytical thinking in every lesson. The unit covers 23 topics, but it only includes three...

Explore ocean habitats with a lesson that showcases the home of manatees and loggerhead turtles in Belize. Here, pupils compare and contrast the homes of ocean animals to those of humans, listen to an original short story about...

Discover the connection of native peoples to their natural world, including cultural and agricultural practices, by studying the Zuni people of the American Southwest. This lesson includes examining a poster's photographs, reading...

Put your students' map skills to the test with this engaging cross-curricular project. Given the task of developing new hiking trails for their local community, young cartographers must map out beginner and intermediate...

The epicenter is the point on the ground above the initial point of rupture. The 10th lesson in a series of 20 encourages scholars to learn to triangulate the epicenter of an earthquake based on the arrival times of p waves and s...

From the layers of Earth's spheres to latitude and longitude to looking at topographic maps, learners discover the elements of Earth's systems. 

Militaries throughout history have used topography information to plan strategies, yet many pupils today don't understand it. Scholars use Legos and a contour gauge to understand how to construct and visualize topographic profiles. This...

Ready to roll up those sleeves and get your hands dirty? Dirty with soil science content, that is! Overcome those "But it's just dirt" objections with a trip outside to collect soil samples for some in-class analysis. Use the...

Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students...

Concept muraling helps learners improve their comprehension of a text by giving them a way to organize their understanding of the key concepts in that text. Introduce readers to this process with a carefully scaffolded lesson that models...

Scholars examine diagrams and complete a concept map to discover key details about convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries.  

We all know photosynthesis happens, but why should we care? Here is a unit that covers everything young scholars need to know about photosynthesis. Hands-on activities, assessments, and lectures guide pupils though the physiology of...

West of the West's documentary Arlington Springs Man and a two-page scientific article about the same topic provide the text for a reading comprehension exercise that asks individuals to craft a one page summary of information gathered...

Strap on those backpacks, it's time to travel through history with this literature unit based on the first four books of The Magic Tree House series. While reading through these fun stories, children create story maps, record...

How does GPS know where everything is located? Pupils read about satellites that are mapping the ocean and the question on how satellites know where they are. Readers discover the workings of the Global Positioning System and create...

Reinforce reading comprehension with a instructional activity about The Archer and the Sun, a Chinese folktale. Kids learn some background information about Chinese culture before reading the story, and answer literacy...

Over a period of 35 years, earthquakes and volcanoes combined only accounted for 1.5 percent of the deaths from natural disasters in the United States. The 15th lesson in a 20-part series connects the locations of earthquakes and...

Investigate the fascinating, yet terrifying phenomenon of hurricanes from the safety of your classroom using this earth science unit. Focusing on developing young scientists' spacial thinking skills, these lessons engage...

What's the least number of colors needed to color a U.S. map? The lesson begins by having pupils view a video clip on continuous and discrete phenomenon, then launches into an activity reminiscent of Zeno's paradox. A separate video...

What can a quarter possibly teach young learners about desert ecosystems? More than you might think. After displaying and discussing the included picture of the Arizona state quarter, the class participates in a series of...