Cornell University
Constructing and Visualizing Topographic Profiles
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...
Curated OER
Landmarks Over Time
Middle schoolers compare/contrast bird's-eye views of Texas cities in the 1800s to those in the 2000s through the identification of landmarks. They write a summary of how one selected city has changed over time.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Introducing Ecosystem Services
Ecosystems provide many things humans not only use but also need in order to survive. The last activity in the series of seven introduces scholars to the idea of ecosystem services, that ecosystems provide humans with many things we...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
Unplugging from technology for one day per week will decrease your carbon footprint—are you up to the challenge? Part two in a series of three allows individuals to explore their personal carbon footprints. By first taking a quiz at home...
Curated OER
Google Earth Geology Field Trip
Students take a virtual field trip around California using Google Earth. In this geology field trip lesson, students explore landforms and a variety of rocks located in California. Students compare environments where rocks are formed....
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions — Natural and Human Causes
What impact do humans have on greenhouse gas emissions? What are the natural causes of these gasses? Thanks to the carbon cycle, carbon dioxide eats away at the earth's atmosphere with the intensified help of humans. Young scientists...
Curated OER
From the White House of Yesterday to the White House of Today
Young scholars take a close look at the design of the White House and some of the changes it has undergone. They also reflect on how the "President's House" has been and continues to be used. They give specific examples demonstrating how...
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
Runoff: Intro to Watersheds
Students are taught that a watershed is, what types of basic land cover are impermeable and permeable to water. They trace the flow of water around their school and around their home. Students determine what watershed their school is a...
Curated OER
Natural Features as a Resource
Young scholars investigate how land and water can meet basic needs. For this natural resources lesson, students locate water features on a Landscape Picture Map and describe how water is used to meet their needs.
Curated OER
Properties of Soil
Students use history to create knowledge of how soil has changed in the state of Ohio. The lesson is cross curricular in nature and uses Along the Ohio Trail as a source of literature for reflection.
Curated OER
The Evolution of Technology
Ninth graders explore the evolution of technology. They discuss how technology has affected their daily lives and how it has changed throughout the course of history. They discuss what invention has most affected the world.
Curated OER
The Historical Geography of Mesopotamia
Students show how the geography of the Mesopotamia region has impacted the beginnings of civilization. They show how this area has long been the site of the rise and fall of great empires, and how the geography of this region has a lot...
Curated OER
Magic Tree House Story
Young scholars, while in the computer lab assessing how to use Hyper Studio, utilize computer technology as a vehicle to telling an oral story. They create a title page for their Magic Tree House stories. A variety of technology tools...
Curated OER
Materials: Hidden Costs, Mapping the Source and Cost of Raw Materials.
Students map connections among raw materials. In this environmental stewardship lesson plan, students design strategies to minimize the use of raw materials and discuss how to use more sustainable materials.
Denver Art Museum
So Much to See, So Little Time
How do humans and animals impact the environment? What is land division? Youngsters tape off a 12x12 inch square in an outdoor natural space. They sketch everything they see, then compare their drawings as a class. They will then be...
Illustrative Mathematics
Tossing Cylinders
Everyone loves a lesson that involves throwing things around! To understand probability, your experimenters will predict how different cylinder-shaped objects will land when tossed. When the data is collected, they will calculate the...
Curated OER
An Era of Innovation
Research milestones from the past century. Transportation milestones have changed society, the economy, communication, and travel. Pupils research these changes in order to create a transportation exhibit showing the enhancements in...
Curated OER
Sea Water Mixing and Sinking
Learners investigate the role of temperature and salinity in determining seawater density. They use a Temperature-Salinity Diagram to examine the effects of mixing on density.
School Improvement in Maryland
Immigration Legislation
What is the purpose of immigration legislation? How has this legislation evolved over the years? What are the factors that caused these changes? Class members research immigration legislation to determine whose rights the laws are...
NOAA
It All Runs Downhill
Examine how pollution makes its way into an ocean with help from a model watershed. Scholars use household items to recreate a mini-watershed, equipped with pollutants, that when mixed with rain drain into a model's body of water. After...
Curated OER
Saving Sturgeon
Marine biology apprentices interpret data of sturgeon interaction with gill nets. They use the data to calculate the percentage of fish entangled in each twine size to discover if there is any correlation. This is a valuable exercise in...
Curated OER
Alleys (Tennis)
"Alleys" is a drill or game-like situation to practice what has already been taught in previous lessons. The tennis court is divided in half, left side and right side, so that each pair of players has an alley. The goal is to aim for the...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...