Alabama Department of Archives and History
Alabama's New South Era
The industrialization and urbanization of Alabama during the New South era (1865-1914) is the focus of a lesson that asks class members to use primary source documents to examine the impact of industrialization on Alabama workers and...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Nellie Bly to Dr. Peter Bryce: 19th Century Asylum Reform
What kind of treatment could a patient expect in an asylum during the 1800's? The abusive and neglectful conditions in 19th century asylums are the focus of a lesson that examines the work of reformers Nellie Bly, Dorothea Dix, and Dr....
Curated OER
Population Growth and Urban Planning
Students discuss the following terms and their definitions: zero population growth, population density, demographics, urban sprawl, census, immigration, migration, infrastructure, population booms, megacities, birthrate, death rate,...
Curated OER
Urban Heat Islands: An Introduction to Energy Transfer and Transformation
Elementary school physical scientists explore kinetic mechanical energy by dropping a golf ball on different surfaces. They discuss how human made materials might react to light differently from nature made materials. This lesson plan...
Curated OER
Street Cows
A light, and humorous lesson on "street cows" is here for you. Learners listen to the story, "Street Cows," which is embedded in the plan. On a map of the US and the World, they locate the cities where the "Cows on Parade" exhibit was...
Curated OER
Create the Ideal City
Learners examine the significance of city planning. They analyze maps, develop a crossword puzzle using vocabulary terms, and create a diagram of an ideal city and describe the features that make it healthy for the economy, the...
Curated OER
Conditions of City Life in the Late 19th Century
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...
Curated OER
Wildfire Lesson Plans
Learning about wildfires and how they start, and engaging in fire safety lesson plans can be interesting and educational.
Curated OER
Feeling the Heat
Pupils record temperatures at different locations around campus. They examine the results and draw conclusions about how materials and colors affect the amount of heat produced. They also analyze Los Angeles' temperature records over a...
Curated OER
Impervious Surfaces
Young scholars comprehend impervious surfaces. They recognize the problems caused by impervous surfaces. Students observe how land use can influence impervious surfaces. They chose four of the seven basic land surface, young scholars...
Curated OER
Immigration
This 3-day immigration study draws on historical trends and current events. A worksheet accompanies initial research on one group's U.S. immigration history, giving opportunity for collaborative learning through sharing findings. Groups...
Population Connection
The Human-Made Landscape
Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...
Smithsonian Institution
A Ticket to Philly—In 1769: Thinking about Cities, Then and Now
While cities had only a small fraction of the population in colonial America, they played a significant role in pre-revolutionary years, and this was certainly true for the largest city in the North American colonies: Philadelphia. Your...
Curated OER
Firefighting and Community in Colonial America
Students view two unknown historical objects and try to identify their function by looking at and asking questions of their appearance and function. They use critical thinking skills to view a number of images and objects. They make...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Progressive Era: Muckrakers
Using Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, guide your class in the process of identifying unknown terms using context clues and formulating text-based answers. The lesson plan includes a useful worksheet incorporating scaffolding questions on an...
Curated OER
Community
Second graders draw a picture. In this communities lesson, 2nd graders read the book Communities, and review as they read. Students use construction paper to create a picture of their houses in three different communities including...
Curated OER
Reaching for the Sky
Students consider features of skyscraper using descriptive words, reflect on notion of skyscraper as orientation point in a city, and explore New York Times Building in Manhattan by reading and discussing article, "Pride and Nostalgia...
Curated OER
Community Building
Students explore the issues of urban and suburban sprawl. They work in small groups to create their own planned communities.
Curated OER
City Lesson Plan
Students examine the patterns and processes of urbanization and describe patterns of urban land use. They choose one of five cities using riddles and research why this city is desirable. The groups make quizzes for each other on the city...
National Gallery of Canada
Urban Panorama
How can a photographer use images to represent a topic? Over the course of three days, learners discuss various photographs and practice their picture-taking skills with an outdoor, panoramic photography session. They use the images to...
Curated OER
Lesson: Lisa Signal: Altering Perspectives
Kids make big artistic gestures, just like the abstract artist, Lisa Signal. They use her work as inspiration for making simplistic, abstract, statements in an artistic way. They analyze her work, then walk through an unfamiliar...
New Class Museum
Lesson: An Exploration of Places and Spaces Part II
How does your location alter or impede your movement? An interesting question posed by two artists, who work to show the restrictions of people in various landscapes. Learners analyze both exhibitions, discuss location and movement, then...
Virginia Department of Education
Succession
The final lesson in a two-part series prompts scholars to create newspaper articles and succession events. Applying their knowledge of the ecosystem and the past examples of succession, they predict what will happen in the future using...
Curated OER
Water Pollution Lesson Plan: What's the Flow?
Students study urban runoff. They identify the urban runoff in a simulated area and determine peak flows using charted data. Finally, they discuss possible causes of the differences in flow rates.