Almost every phone has GPS installed, but a large number of teens don't know how the technology works. An initial activity illustrates how GPS determines a location on Earth. Scholars then apply trilateration procedures to a...

Travel the world from the comfort of your classroom with a lesson plan that features Google Earth. High schoolers follow a series of steps to locate places all over the earth with sets of coordinates. Additionally, they measure the...

Assist your pupils and broaden their horizons with several activities that determine the exact positioning of various communities over the globe. Pupils use data from the Global Positioning System to determine the position and rate of...

Young geologists get a glimpse beneath the earth's surface in this plate tectonics investigation. After first learning about the different layers of the earth and the constant movement of its plates, young...

Assess your young scientists' understanding of the difference between observation and inference with this 20-question multiple choice quiz. It reviews a variety of physics and astronomy concepts, such as solar eclipses and sunspots, the...

Who doesn't enjoy an engaging scavenger hunt? Here, scholars listen to, and discuss, the informative text, Where is my Continent? by Robin Nelson. They then explore the seven continents and four major oceans using...

After investigating the US Environmental Protection Agency's climate change website, your environmental studies students discuss greenhouse gas emissions. They use an online interactive tool to look at data from power production...

Junior geologists work through three mini-lessons that familiarize them with the formation and location of fossil fuels. Part one involves reading about petroleum and where it comes from via a thorough set of handouts. A lab activity...

Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...

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

Feel the pull of science! The final installment of this 18-part series is an application of everything learned in the previous high school lessons. Scholars are given a magnetic field map and must propose an arrangement of magnets that...

Using Google Earth, a vocabulary assignment, and map handout, your class members will outline the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia and identify the source of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They will then complete graphic organizers...

Introduce your class to magnetic fields with an activity that demonstrates that a compass is affected by the magnetic field of the earth, unless a closer, stronger magnetic field is present. Pupils can use this fact in the...

Get out the compass and a pencil its time to use a coordinate grid to practice mapping skills. Young cartographers use the prompts and provided grid to plot locations, draw parallel lines, and determine distances between points. 

Sink into an interactive learning experience about subduction zones! Junior oceanographers examine the earth-shaking and earth-making effects of subduction in the fourth installment in a 13-part series. Hands-on activities include...

In 2006, New Horizons began its mission to fly to Pluto. As it continues its journey, scholars track its progress with the help of an informative website, all the while reinforcing measurement concepts with the construction of a scaled...

Learners label a diagram of the Earth rotating about the sun and indicate the direction of the rotation and the seasons at each location. They indicate the seasons, the poles, the hours of daylight at each pole, the direction of rotation...

Introduce middle or high schoolers to topographic maps with this PowerPoint. After a review of longitude and latitude, display and describe contour lines and intervals. Also explain map scale. This is a useful presentation for a social...

There's no need to stay inside; get out of the classroom and create a scaled map of the solar system on your playground field! In collaborative groups, scholars identify the distance between the sun and other planets, place planet...

How do oceanographers make maps under water? Junior explorers discover the technologies and processes involved in creating bathymetric maps in part three of a five-part series designed for fifth- and sixth-grade pupils. The lesson...

There are lots of details that make you who you are! Illustrate what those details are with a personal concept map project. After learners view a step-by-step presentation, the follow a rubric to complete a concept map about themselves.

Find out if your class agrees with Ice Age: Continental Drift ... or if it's just a fun family movie! Class members research the theory of continental drift, examine evidence of plate tectonics, connect...

Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this lesson focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly variability and...

Learners discuss different landscapes. In this map lesson, students describe what they see when they travel between home and school. Learners use a landscape picture map to locate the places or objects they see.