National Geographic
Mapping the Shape of Everest
With Mount Everest as the motivator, your earth science class learns about topographic maps. Begin by showing a film clip from The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, featuring fearsome virtual imagery of a path up world's tallest...
EngageNY
Forming a Research-Based Claim: Cascading Consequences Chart
Can you put that in writing? Scholars work with a partner to write a practice claim before writing their own claims. After writing their claims, learners share with class using a Concentric Circles activity.
Curated OER
Air Pressure and Wind
Fifth graders study air pressure and learn how it can change the weather. In this air pressure lesson, 5th graders study the given diagrams and complete the experiments to learn how air pressure can change the weather. Students read...
Curated OER
3-D Topographic Maps
Students create a 3-D topographic map. In this map building lesson, students use cardboard to create a topographic map of the Catskills mountain region.
Curated OER
Building Bridges for Young Learners- School
Students examine the purpose of education. In this schooling lesson, students read a letter from a child in Uzbekistan. Students compare and contrast their schooling to children around the world.
Curated OER
Life of an Island: From Mountain to Atoll
Students research the evolution of a volcanic island from origin to erosion. They determine the relative ages of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands given their position in the archipelago.
Curated OER
TE Activity: The Trouble with Topos
Students study the uses of topographical maps including the many forms that they take. They discover that the map features show its intended use such as city maps, wilderness maps, and state maps. They complete a worksheet in which they...
Curated OER
Gold Mountain
Young scholars read primary and secondary sources to find jobs as a Chinese immigrant. In groups they create a chart listing jobs for Chinese and write a letter about employment and living conditions to a Chinese friend.
Curated OER
1668 Map of Newark Activity
Eleventh graders read a map for historical information, decipher a map legend and symbols, and expand their knowledge of a historic time.
Curated OER
Wheeling It In!
Students use everyday materials (milk cartons, water bottles, pencils, straws, candy) to build a small-scale transportation device that incorporates the wheel and axle and the lever. They race their carts/trucks, measure distance, time...
Curated OER
Rock 'N Roll Mount Rushmore
Students, in groups, gather information about the sculptor Gutzon Borglum and the four presidents he carved in the South Dakota mountain, Mt. Rushmore. Groups create a Rock 'n' Roll President brochure.
Teach Engineering
Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties and Classify
Time is growing short. Teams work together to identify physical properties of rocks in order to determine the properties that would best suit their cavern shelter design.
Curated OER
Help, I'm Melting!
Students explore the parts of the rock cycle and the process of erosion as they build their own mountain and observe the effects of wind and rain as erosive agents.
Curated OER
Keys and Webs
Students explore and classify organisms found in a Rocky Mountain Ecosystem. Through discussions, students examine the effects upon an ecosystem if a component was removed or a new component was added. As a class, they survey reasons...
Curated OER
The Japanese Garden
High schoolers use the internet to gather information on the Japanese Gardens. They discuss topics with a horticulturist and build a replica of the gardens at their school. They work together to identify different types of plants.
Curated OER
Feeding in the Flow
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has developed a tremendous library of ocean-themed lessons that can be used in a variety of science settings. "Feeding in the Flow" is one of those activities; Its focus is on...
Curated OER
Sea to Sky
Students investigate the Earth's major landforms and how they occur, and how engineers apply this knowledge for the design of transportation systems, mining, and measuring natural hazards. They listen to a teacher-led lecture, match...
Curated OER
Cruising the Mantle
Learners explore the plate boundaries of the earth. Through the use of video, internet and hands-on activities, students examine the types of plate boundaries. They create a model to illustrate the movement and interaction of the...
Curated OER
Stressed to a Fault!
Eighth graders describe how stress builds up in the Earth's crust by the movement of tectonic plates. In groups, they relate the three types of stresses to the types of plate movements and explain how the stress causes faults to form. ...
Curated OER
Impact Craters: Holes in the Ground!
Young scholars simulate crater formation through a lab activity. In this space science instructional activity, students calculate how much energy is transferred during meteorite impact. They identify different factors affecting the size...
Curated OER
The 50 States and its Holidays
Though the format of this ELL lesson is confusing (the standards listed are for plate tectonics, yet the objectives are for American geography and holidays), a teacher could glean some ideas from the main idea. Here, pupils complete a...
Curated OER
Building a Topographic Model
Learners explore the features of a topographic map. They make paper models that portray, in three-dimensions, features represented by contour lines on a topographic map. Students demonstrate different elevations shown on a...
Curated OER
Down on the Ocean Floor
Students build a map of the Atlantic Ocean floor and mark the different depths. In this ocean floor lesson students identify parts of the ocean floor that they created and discuss patterns that they see.
Curated OER
Wind
Students complete activities to study wind intensity. In this wind study lesson, students discuss wind speed and direction. Students then build a kite and windsock to help them study wind intensity. Students learn to use a wind meter for...