Discovery Education
Sonar & Echolocation
A well-designed, comprehensive, and attractive slide show supports direct instruction on how sonar and echolocation work. Contained within the slides are links to interactive websites and instructions for using apps on a mobile device to...
Physics Classroom
As the Crow Flies Lab
A simple, yet memorable, way of practicing with displacement vectors is described here. Divide your class into groups and assign each a different landmark on campus. They measure smaller legs of the path from the classroom to their...
Curated OER
GPS Sports Field Activity
Students practice using GPS receivers and explore how knowing the coordinates of two locations allows them to determine the distance between those two points. They use the theory that they already had knowledge of and apply it to a...
Curated OER
Planning a Road Trip!
Students generate plans for a fictitious road trip. For this time management lesson, students investigate the most effective way to travel the country arriving at specific cities. Students create their plans based on time and...
Curated OER
Laura Ingalls Wilder and Pioneer Life
Fourth graders complete a three-week unit about Laura Ingalls Wilder and pioneer life. They research the topography of Michigan in the 1870's, conduct Internet research, write journal entries, participate in polka and waltz dancing, and...
Rainforest Alliance
How Far Away Is a Tropical Rainforest?
If driving to school only takes 10 minutes, then how long does it take to drive to a tropical rainforest in Colombia? Explore the focus question in a lesson plan that uses measurement tools and formulas to figure out the time...
Science Matters
Earth Shaking Events
The world's largest measured earthquake happened in 1960 in Chile, reaching a terrifying 9.5 magnitude on the Richter Scale. The second lesson in the 20-part series introduces earthquakes and fault lines. Scholars map where previous...
Curated OER
Tracking the Salt Front
Using the Hudson River as the focus, learners discuss the difference between salt water and fresh water environments, analyze maps and graphs, and complete addition and subtraction problems. This lesson comes with a wealth of...
Curated OER
Is it Olympic Time?
Students investigate the Winter Olympics by studying the geography of the 2010 Vancouver games. In this competitive sports instructional activity, students identify the planning and preparation needed to produce an event like the...
Curated OER
Social Studies: Underground Railroad
Students role-play as escaped slaves making their way from North Carolina to Canada, stopping in Indiana. They track their journeys on maps and include a stop at Harriet Tubman's. Students write three paragraphs about how Tubman aids...
Curated OER
Pearl Harbor
Young scholars identify the location of Pearl Harbor and Hawaiian Islands on a map. In this map skills lesson plan, students use latitude and longitude coordinates to locate various places of importance of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Curated OER
The Ridge Exploring Robot
Students study about an autonomous underwater vehicle and explain the strategies that it uses to locate and map hydrothermal vents. In this marine navigation lesson students design a program for an AUV survey.
Curated OER
Inches Away
Students are introduced to maps, scale representations, ratios and cartography. They plot the itinerary for their family's dream vacation or a trip across the United States. Using maps, they determine the short route and second longer...
Curated OER
How Far And How Long Will It Take
Young scholars use a ruler to determine length and then fit the unit to a scale in miles. This unit will also give a geological awareness of altitude and the difference it makes in travel time. The travel time with Mapquest will...
Curated OER
CASTLE ROCK PUEBLO: A TRIP THROUGH TIME
Pupils use a map to respond to a series of questions. They determine how much time it would take to travel to Castle Rock Pueblo from different pueblos and locate modern pueblos on the Indian Country map.
Curated OER
Old World and New World - Why Contact Took So Long
Young scholars use a globe to determine why contact between the old world and the new world took a long time. In this map skills instructional activity, students analyze routes between regions to determine why it took so long for the old...
Curated OER
Amelia the Pigeon: As a Pigeon Flies
Students follow Amelia's adventure on a satellite image. They use measuring and math skills to determine the distance she traveled.
Geophysical Institute
Latitude and Longitude with Google Earth
Travel the world from the comfort of your classroom with a lesson that features Google Earth. High schoolers follow a series of steps to locate places all over the earth with sets of coordinates. Additionally, they measure the distance...
Curated OER
A Contouring We Go
Students examine the built environment and infrastructures of their community by constructing contour equipment, using the equipment, and comparing their results to current topographical maps of the same area
Curated OER
Bird and Dog Race
Your pupil's pet dog and bird are racing down the city streets. In order to know who is going to win, they better know something about calculating rates, the Pythagorean Theorem, and applying those topics to the map of the city.
Concord Consortium
Other Road
Take the road to a greater knowledge of functions. Young mathematicians graph an absolute value function representing a road connecting several towns. Given a description, they identify the locations of the towns on the graph.
K12 Reader
Absolute Location
Where in the world are we? As a reading comprehension exercise, kids read a short passage about navigation using latitude and longitude, and then respond to a series of questions based on the article.
California Academy of Science
Earthquakes and Tectonic Plates
Here is a comprehensive package in which middle schoolers learn about types of seismic waves, triangulation, and tectonic plate boundaries. Complete vocabulary, colorful maps, and a worksheet are included via links on the webpage. You...
Curated OER
Unit 19 Scale Drawing
In these scale drawing worksheets, students read the distance problems and select the answer from the choices. Students complete 9 problems.