Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vanishing Environment: Exploring Changes in Landscape

For Teachers 10th - 12th
To discover the impact of urbanization on the environment, learners compare landscape paintings from the past with contemporary photographs, create found poems from descriptions of artwork, design backyard or public garden spaces,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What Type of Community?

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students compare and contrast suburban, rural and urban communities. They read books such as The Little Red Hen and identify the type of community in each book. Using computer software, they write about each type of community and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Conditions of City Life in the Late 19th Century

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine tenement life. In this lesson on early urbanization, students research the role of journalism for social change in early American cities. Students write a journal article for themselves that demonstrate an understanding...
Worksheet
DePaul University

Breaking the Food Chain

For Students 3rd - 5th Standards
Throughout history, the growth of big cities has resulted in the destruction of ecosystems. In the case of Chicago, IL, a grassland that was once home to bison, deer, wolves, and foxes quickly became a booming city of over three million...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating Community - A Function Of Design

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners discuss the physical and human impacts of community design. They identify traditional neighborhood design elements and evaluate them with features of conventional suburban development.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Fact of Global Warming

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students investigate the harmful impact of global warming by reading news articles.  In this environmental care lesson, students analyze an article about the Kyoto Protocol and its goal of saving our environment.  Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Community Explorations

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students identify the strengths and weakness in their community. They take a community walk and take pictures of people interacting with the environment and the "green spaces" in their community. They then write a persuasive essay...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

For the Love of Publication!

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What is a ‘Zine? Although the referenced PBS video that launches this study of self-published magazines is not available, the activities detailed and the step-by-step directions for creating ‘Zines would engage young writers. This...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Location, Location, Location: Civilization's Ultimate Advantage

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover how geographical advantages, locational and regional, ultimately led to western Eurasian societies' disproportionate accounting of world power and innovation. They utilize a workbook which can be downloaded within this...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Canada's Arctic Barometer

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars research arctic climates. In this Web-quest investigation, students will identify Arctic climate changes, explain the effects of these changes, relate the changes to other regions, and write their findings in a letter format.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

It's Challenging Being Green!

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students influence the plant life cycle as they take care of plants.In this caring for plants lesson, students understand the parts of the plant and their functions in keeping it alive. Students participate in experiments with plants and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Sense of West Virginia

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students consider their perceptions of the world through their 5 senses while visiting the West Virginia State Museum. In this West Virginia history lesson, students discover how knowing about the past helps with their understanding of...
Unit Plan
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University

De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Plants and Places [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th
"Plants and Places" is a one page, nonfiction passage about how plants fit the types of environment they live in such as cactus like hot, dry weather and live in Arizona. The state flowers fit the climate of the states. It is followed by...