Curated OER
Lesson Design Archaeology- USGS Maps
Students research USGS maps and identify the major features. In this map skills lesson, students identify low and high elevations on a USGS map and practice finding latitude and longitude.
TED-Ed
A Digital Reimagining of Gettysburg
Why would Robert E. Lee order Pickett's Charge, an action that changed the course of the Civil War? Geographer and historian Anne Knowles uses digital technology to explain what she thinks is the missing piece in trying to understand...
Curated OER
Mapping Mount St. Helens
Learners study topographic maps and contour lines and construct a simple three-dimensional model of Mount St. Helens before the May 18, 1980, eruption. They use topographic map skills to interpret the impact of the May 18, 1980, eruption...
Curated OER
Volcano Contour Models Activity and Tracing the Highs and Lows in San Francisco
Students investigate how to draw topographic contours and read topographic maps.They examine the topography of San Francisco and contrast the elevation of different points within San Francisco.
Curated OER
Map Skills
Do you need to practice map skills? Children with a range of abilities will complete a KWL chart about maps, practice important map vocabulary and then read a few pages from their textbook. They will use their vocabulary words and...
Curated OER
Introduction to Topographic Maps
Tenth graders create a topographic map and see how it represents different elevations. In this topographic maps lesson students read and interpret topographic maps.
Curated OER
"Potato Mountain": Reading/Understanding Topographic Maps
Learners investigate how to read topographic maps. In this map reading lesson students complete a topographic map activity.
Curated OER
Bathymetric Mapping
Students draw contour lines based on NOAA soundings on a nautical chart. They color the contours and glue label tags for topographic features. They determine that the floor of the ocean is composed of hills, plains, ridges, trenches,...
Curated OER
Mapping Ancient Coastlines
Most of this lesson is spent working on the "Bathymetry Worksheet." It includes a graph of the changes in sea level over the past 150,000 years and a bathymetric map of changes in an imaginary coastline over time. Participants answer...
Curated OER
Put Your Face on the Map
Learners investigate topography and contour lines by examining a human face. In this mapping lesson, students create a plaster cast of a face and create a map of the contours of the face one centimeter at a time. Learners examine the...
Curated OER
Gilligan's Island
Students investigate topographical maps and match actual landforms to them. In this topographical maps lesson students create "Gilligan's Island" to scale then answer questions about it such as what the highest elevations is and what...
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Mapping the Canyon
High schoolers compare and contrast topographic maps and bathymetric maps. They investigate how bathymetric maps are made and how to interpret one.
Curated OER
From Maps to Models
Students explore watersheds through the use of a topographic map. They observe topographical maps and discuss their characteristics. In groups, students create a model clay island and make a topographical map of it. Afterward, groups...
Curated OER
Worksheet 19 - Topographical Maps
In this map worksheet, students use information from given topical maps and locate the maxima and solve one dimensional wave equations. This two-page worksheet contains four problems.
Curated OER
Will There Be a White Christmas This Year?
Students examine historical weather data, and create map and color key that illustrates the likelihood of a white Christmas in different locations across the United States.
Curated OER
Outdoor Education; Maps, Elevation
Ninth graders use online topographical maps to fill in a chart regarding elevation and contour lines.
Space Awareness
Valleys Deep and Mountains High
Sometimes the best view is from the farthest distance. Satellite imaging makes it possible to create altitude maps from far above the earth. A three-part activity has your young scientists play the role of the satellite and then use...
Curated OER
Making Topographic Maps and Mountain Profiles
Young scholars study how to mark inclines and construct a mountain profile. In this topographic map lesson students mark contour intervals and draw mountain profiles.
Curated OER
Common Themes
Tenth graders test usefulness of a model Earth by comparing its predictions to observations in the real world. In this landforms lesson students construct an island from a contour map using model clay then analyze the landscape features...
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Working With Electronic Topography Maps
Junior geologists examine topographic maps online and learn how to read them. they answer seven associated follow-up questions. This lesson plan is only a general outline and does not provide the details or the websites that you would...
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Mapping and Topgraphy- 8th Grade
Eighth graders practice interpreting a contour map as well as reading latitude and longitude in a team activity. Following a discussion on mapping terms, teams are given maps and estimate the distance between two points. Students...
Curated OER
Introduction To Topographic Map Activities
Students discuss different types of maps, their similarities and differences. Using a Topographical Maps CD-rom program students create their own map.
Curated OER
Building a Topographic Model
Students 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...