Sometimes it is difficult to grasp topographic maps. Here is a clever presentation designed to help your middle school earth scientists understand. Beginning with a side view of a pair of mountains, a graphic guy walks up one slope. As...

Your choice of hands-on topographic mapping tasks is provided in this resource. From actual map-making to viewing and interpreting stereographic photos, the activities are sure to succeed. To make the most of this lesson plan, you will...

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...

Maps are great for helping you get where you're going, but what does that place actually look like? Geology scholars compare and contrast the features of topographical and geologic maps using an interactive lesson. The resource describes...

In this earthquake exploration worksheet, students complete 2 prior knowledge questions, then use "Building Topographic Maps Gizmo" to conduct several activities, completing short answer questions when finished.

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...

In this topographic map worksheet, students learn how to read a topographic map and create a topographic map of their own using clay or Play-Doh. Students include contour lines by layering the clay. Students answer 6 questions about...

In this topographic map activity, students add contour lines to a topographic map using instructions provided. Once topographic map is finished, students complete 2 follow-up short answer questions.

Middle schoolers model a watershed and delineate one using topographic maps. In this hydrology lesson, students use aluminum foil to model a landscape and observe how water moves on it. They also observe the features of a topographic map...

Students use topographic map skills to interpret impact of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens on the volcano's topography, and draw profile views of Mount St. Helens before and after the May 18, 1980, eruption.

Students examine topographical maps and the challenges faced by cartographers when drawing the maps. While creating collages, they use contour lines to add dimension much in the same way they are used on maps to show elevation.

In this geography worksheet, students read an excerpt about topographic maps and why they are useful for various jobs. They also respond to eleven questions that follow related to the excerpt and locating specific map points on the map...

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...

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...

Show the class the world as they've never seen it before—from way above! Learners try to unravel the mysteries presented by rich satellite imagery, learn to interpret topographic maps, and study erosion by constructing their very...

Underclassmen create a cone-shaped landform and then draw a contour map for it. Then they examine a quadrangle (which was easily located with an online search), and relate it to what they experienced. The accompanying worksheet is...

Young scholars experiment with water levels and plastic topographic volcano models to determine the contour lines that would be used to create a topograpohic map of a volcano. They use the traced lines to actually develop the map.

Begin by showing a six-minute video, Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level as an anticipatory set. Pupils draw a topographic map of a potato continent. Finally, they will visit NOAA's sea levels online map and NASA's carbon dioxide...

Following a contour map of a hill, a stream, and the ocean, are five multiple choice questions. Earth science enthusiasts determine elevation, direction of water flow, distance, and steepness. They also match the map to a selection of...

Students examine topographic maps and discover how to decipher contour intervals, use contour lines and apply information to complete a topographic map lab. Working in groups, they identify the scale of the map, latitude and longitude,...

Tenth graders create a topographic map and see how it represents  different elevations. In this topographic maps lesson students read and interpret topographic maps. 

Students investigate how to read topographic maps.  In this map reading lesson students complete a topographic map activity. 

Earth scientists answer five multiple choice questions about the topographical map atop the worksheet. Use this as a quick assessment of understanding after having taught how to read contour lines and topographic maps. 

Being able to read a topographic map is a standard in middle school earth science units and imperative for outdoor enthusiasts. As you introduce learners to this skill, you can assign this as an assessment or reinforcement. Pupils view a...