Space Awareness
Let's Map the Earth
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.
Curated OER
Mapping
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...
Association of American Geographers
Project GeoSTART
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...
K12 Reader
Where On Earth Are You?
What do we use to determine the exact locations on the earth? Your kids can learn all about compass roses and latitude and longitude. Test understanding with the five reading comprehension questions included on the page.
NOAA
Into the Deep
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...
Curated OER
Understanding Topographic Maps
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...
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Earth Science: In Depth Look at Earthquakes
Students engage in an interactive Internet lesson covering the reasons and results of earthquakes. After reading eyewitness accounts and viewing animations, they use seismograms to measure and locate the epicenters. In an ongoing study,...
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GEOGRAPHY: SPACE CENTERS
Students examine the descriptive science dealing with the surface of Earth, its division into continents and countries, climate, natural resources, inhabitants and industries of the various divisions and analyze the political geography...
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People Change the Landscape
Students examine ways in which humans have brought change to the natural environment. In this ecology and literacy lesson, students listen to the book Island Boy by Barbara Cooney. Students observe and define map-reading vocabulary as...
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Is the Hudson River Too Salty to Drink?
Students explore reasons for varied salinity in bodies of water. In this geographical inquiry lesson plan, students use a variety of visual and written information including maps, data tables, and graphs, to form a hypothesis as to why...
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Environmental Education in Wisconsin
Biome Travel Guide
In a perfect marriage of social studies and science, groups work together to research and create a travel guide presentation to share with the class. Not only do kids learn about the climate and geography of a biome, but also the...
Curated OER
Making Maps
In this map making worksheet, learners learn about the science of making maps, which is cartography. They then answer the 11 questions on the worksheet. The answers are on the last page.
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Map Projections: The Grapefruit Activity
Students partcipate in activities in which they examine different map projections. They discover the positives and negatives of each type. They use grapefruits to help them with the different types of map projections.
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Rivers, Maps, and Math
Students use maps to locate and label the major rivers of North and South America. Using the internet, they identify forests, grasslands, mountain ranges and other landforms on the continents as well. They compare and contrast the...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 2
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...
Curated OER
Earth Matters
Young scholars identify Earth's equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians.
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Plotting a Hurricane Using Latitude and Longitude
Learners define and use "absolute location," latitude, and longitude. They locate on a map or globe the Earth's poles, circles, tropics, and beginning points of measurements for latitude and longitude.
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Barrels and Buckets: Access to Water - What Would It Be Like to Live in Africa?
Students compare water access in the United States with that of Africa. In this water access lesson, students located Ghana and Kenya on a globe before reading Peace Corps Volunteer accounts of the difficulty of accessing clean water....
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The Earth's Rain Forests
Learners study the importance of the world's rain forests. In this rain forest instructional activity, students read about the role of the rain forests in the world's environment. Learners then write a formal letter to a member of...
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Endangered Animals
Students listen to a teacher led lecture on jaguars, their habitats, and how they became endangered. Using a specified web site, they choose an endangered animal to research. After gathering information, students participate in...
Curated OER
Where in the Latitude Are You? A Longitude Here.
Students distinguish between latitude and longitude on the map. In this mapping lesson, students participate in mapping skills to recognize spatial relationships, and where to find natural resources on the map. Students create...
Curated OER
Mapping the Local Community
Students review the symbols and legends of a map. In groups, they follow a set of directions to create a map showing the route to a specific place. They present their map to the class and review the basic components of a community.
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Stratigraphy -- Layers of Time in the Earth
Students are introduced to the process of stratification. Using the internet, they read about the Richard Beene archeological site near San Antonio. Using a map, they color code the different layers present at this site and answer...