Lesson Plan
Curated OER

True North, Magnetic North

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students explain why compass angles need to be corrected for regional magnetic variation. They observe the difference between magnetic and true north. Each student measures the angle of variation for a town in a different state.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

A Celebration of Africa

For Teachers 4th
Students investigate early African civilizations. They create Kufi hats, musical instruments, pottery and African masks, sing songs, play African studenT games, and participate in a feast and tour of a museum where their artwork is...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day to Day Life in a Small African Village

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students analyze what it is like to live in an African village. They locate Tanzania on a map and compare life there to life here in the United States. They write about the health issues in East Africa.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build a Model Watershed

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Collaborative earth science groups create a working model of a watershed. Once it has been developed, you come along and introduce a change in land use, impacting the quality of water throughout their watershed. Model making is an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plate Tectonics Day 3 Sea Floor Spreading: Evidence for Continental Drift

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners are introduced to Sea Floor Spreading and how it provides evidence for Hess's and Deitz's theory of Continental Drift. They use paleomagnetic data to calculate the rate of Sea Floor Spreading.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Hajj: Muslim Pilgrimage in a Geographic Perspective

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students read information on the Hajj. They discuss pilgrimage and ways it differs from going to a church, mosque or synagogue. Students discuss logistical problems that might be posed for the host country of a pilgrimage. Students do an...
Worksheet
Curated OER

The Birth of the Ancient Games: The Olympics

For Students 8th - 10th
This exercise includes a lengthy article on the history of the Olympics as well as a map of Ancient Greece. The last page includes 15 reading comprehension questions about the passage. A fairly thorough look at this topic - geared toward...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Prairie Climate

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders research the average temperature and precipitation of a prairie region to determine the type of climate it is, and how it differs from other biomes. They examine the types of adaptions animals have made to live in the...
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Lesson 1: On the Road with Marco Polo: A Boy in 13th Century Venice

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Learners investigate Marco Polo's life as a young boy in 13th century Venice. They analyze maps, explore various websites, complete a chart and answer discussion questions, and create a travel brochure about visiting 13th century Venice.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where is Shirley the Elephant?

For Teachers K - 3rd
Young animal lovers engage in a lesson that's all about elephants. They access an elephant sanctuary website and read a story about Shirley the elephant. They perform a series of activities based upon that story, and also study about the...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Third Grade Science

For Students 3rd
In this science worksheet, 3rd graders answer multiple choice questions about measurement, plants, water, fossils, and more. Students complete 25 questions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Go To Sleep, Gecko!

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders examine the interdependence of organisms using the book "Go To Sleep, Gecko!" They examine a variety of food chains, listen to the book, and answer story comprehension questions. Students then conduct research on food...
Lesson Plan
National Geographic

Altitude: What's in the Air?

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Introuduce your scientists to the differences in air at varying altitudes with a colorful explanatory graph. After some discussion, they view unbelievable footage of mountain-climbing Leo Houlding and a narrative about how he might do...
Lesson Plan
Sea World

Whales

For Teachers K - 3rd
A whale of a lesson is sure to intrigue your elementary oceanographers! Learn about the mammals of the sea with a series of activities about whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Kids complete worksheets about the anatomy of a whale, create a...
Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Faces of Climate Change

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
How does climate change affect you? First in a three-part series, the activity focuses on how individuals living around the world are affected by climate change. Individuals take on the role of a given character and share their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Endangered Ecosystems

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Reading comprehension and note-taking skills are practiced as young ecologists embark on this journey. Explorers visit a website where they will read about three ecosystems that are in danger. They use interactive programs to build a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where's the Water? Stream Side Science

For Teachers 6th - 9th
After a whole-class discussion of water reservoirs, ten liters of water are given to each lab group to represent Earth's total amount of water. They divide the water into smaller containers, each representing one of those reservoirs. The...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Comparison of Cloud Coverage over Africa

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students identify different climate regions and local weather patterns.  For this cloud coverage lesson students use NASA satellite data and import it into Excel. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Maps

For Teachers 1st
First graders look at their classroom or school setting. They use positional word to describe where things are located in the school. Students discuss a map and why they are important. They read the story "Taylor's New School" and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making a Globe

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students examine the mercator projection or nautical chart and observe how global maps do not have the same distance as flat maps. They design handmade globes using the meridians and equator as guides to draw in the land. They paint and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cardinal Directions

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students draw items on a map in specific places to show their knowledge of cardinal directions. In this simple map skills lesson plan, students draw a cloud, a tree, a house, and a lake to show North, South, East, and West.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Is Japan? How Far Is That?

For Teachers 1st
First graders use literature and hands-on activities with maps and globes to explain distance and tools used to measure distance. They select tools to measure various objects in the classroom, then apply those concepts to their map...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lost at Sea: The Search for Longitude

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students research and chart the shortest course to circumnavigate the globe.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

COLD SEA WATERS

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students examine how old sea waters affected the local and state area during the summer of 1998. Studying a detailed web-site helps students examine sea temperatures.

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