"Humans have become a geologic agent comparable to erosion and [volcanic] eruptions ..." Paul J. Crutzen, a Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist. Using Landsat imagery, scholars create a grid showing land use type, such as urban,...

Learners use a NASA satellite data to contrast amounts of cloud coverage over different climate regions in Africa. They explore how Earth's major air circulations affect global weather patterns, and relate to local weather patterns.

What could be more relevant to teens and preteens than experiencing stress? Use an article from the New York Times website to practice valuable Common Core skills for informational text reading, and also get a discussion going in your...

Students explore how to draw a world map by hand and how to locate countries.

Students investigate how to use a globe. In this map skills lesson plan, students define what a globe is and locate the various continents on the globe. Students are also asked to locate the four oceans on the globe.

Third graders make a grid map. In this directionality lesson, 3rd graders review how to use a grid to locate objects or places on a map. Students draw a grid map of the classroom and locate seating assignments. Students create a grid of...

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...

Inspire your class to look at their environments as if they were seeing them for the first time in order to gain a better understanding of the concept of perspective. After exploring their communities and keeping a journal of major...

Mapmaking was a very important element in successfully planning attacks on enemies during the Civil War. Guide pupils through the process of pacing to find the average length of their steps, measure the distance between one object...

While humans have always been on the move, the period between 1400 and 1800 saw vast migrations of people between the East and the West. These migrations—whether through slavery or a desire to colonize new lands—shaped the modern world....

Young explorers examine the route that Marco Polo and his father traveled to reach China. They examine online maps of the Silk Road and harsh terrain of Afghanistan to determine challenges that may have been encountered during travel.

Based on an examination of Florida's railroad system, this multi-step lesson addresses FCAT requirements specific to Florida. After reading a passage, scholars use a map of the state to label railroad systems. They describe the goods...

How does a nation turn into a global superpower? The 16th installment of the 22-part series on American history investigates the rise of the United States to global importance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Groups...

Perhaps planning a city isn't so difficult after all. Scholars first perform geometric constructions and investigate how parallel lines are useful in real-world situations. They then work on a city design project, drawing street maps,...

Water, water, everywhere? Each pupil first uses an Internet program to select 50 random points on Earth to determine the proportion of its surface covered with water. The class then combines data to determine a more accurate estimate.

Corresponding parts, congruent parts, congruent corresponding parts—what does it all mean? The resource challenges pupils to identify corresponding parts for pairs of figures. It uses examples of figures that undergo rigid...

Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac has enjoyed popularity since its debut in 1897 due in large part to the themes it addresses. Instructors planning on using the play with their classes will find much to like in this teaching guide. The...

Use 2x2 matrices to move along a line. The second day of a two-day lesson is the 28th installment in a 32-part unit. Pupils work together to create and solve systems of equations that will map a transformation to a given...

The San Andreas fault is one of the longest fault zones in the world. In a series of 20 lessons, the fourth lesson has pupils use a paper model to recreate various types of plate faults. Each is held in position then drawn...

Learning to read can be exhilarating for some pupils, but for others, it's difficult to get past the frustration of not knowing how to read a particular word. A tutoring resource provides several ways to guide class members into...

How much do you learners know about the Bahai religion? If this is a topic of study in your class, they'll be able to use the provided map to show the diffusion, location, origin, and distribution of this not-so-well-known sect that...

Discover the five main elements political cartoonists use—symbolism, captioning and labels, analogy, irony, and exaggeration—to convey their point of view.

Students explore the United States using a map. In this map lesson, students discover how to use a United States map and a globe to locate places.

After locating Latin American countries on a world map, children read about how microbanks are loaning money to help start small businesses. Involving both current events and economics, the teacher introduces the article with a map...