Curated OER
The Dust Bowl: An Economic and Environmental American Tragedy
Many of us focus on the causes and effects of the Dust Bowl as it relates to people. Why not shift the focus of cause and effects to how the Dust Bowl affected the environment. Here is a different take on the tried-and-true Dust Bowl...
Curated OER
Industrialization of the American Landscape
Students explore the Chernobyl incident and the resulting environmental health impacts. They explore three different isotopes that were released into the atmosphere. Through inquiry, students determine the difference between types of...
Curated OER
Industrialization of the American Landscape - Major Project
Students consider the role of industry on the American landscape from a variety of perspectives. They investigate a simulated case study. They investigate a chemical spill catastrophe. Students write an informative pamphlet to assist...
Curated OER
Discovering Fall
Young scholars explore the American landscape during fall. After viewing paintings of fall, learners imagine themselves there and what it would be like. They then build an understanding of the painter's use of detail and color...
Curated OER
Homes for Native Nations
Students define native and research natives from their country. In groups, they choose four nations and study the homes in the area, the landscape, and types of buildings. After discussing the meaning of a family, students illustrate...
Curated OER
And the Rains Came Down: A South American Rainforest
Students examine the characteristics of a South American tropical rainforest. They analyze maps, develop graphs, listen to the book, The Great Kapok Tree, and create a rainforest mural.
Curated OER
Linking Lines to Landscape
Students evaluate art to enhance their core knowledge of fiction, American folk heroes, and the water cycle. In this art lesson, students complete a unit of activities to use art to study various topics of literature, history, and...
Curated OER
Streetfilms' Moving Beyond the Automobile
This is an exceptional series that you can use in an environmental or engineering unit. There are four lessons: "Sustainable Transportation," "Designing for Safety," "Changing the Landscape," and "Engaging in Policy." Each lesson...
Rainforest Alliance
My Forest or the Rainforest?
The differences between tropical and temperate rainforests range from animals and flowers to climate and landscapes. Kindergarteners compare and contrast characteristics of their local forest to a tropical rainforest.
Curated OER
People Behind the Parks
Explore U.S. geography with your class by viewing a documentary. Show a portion of the Ken Burns documentary "The National Parks," and identify the individuals responsible for keeping the parks in order. Elementary and middle schoolers...
American Museum of Natural History
Field Trip Mars
Fly around the Martian surface. Pupils view a presentation on the planet Mars featuring a flyover that shows different views of the surface where rovers have landed and explored on different missions. As individuals watch the images, the...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 1
How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...
Curated OER
A Look at the Geological History
In this geological history worksheet, students draw a cartoon strip to sequence how the North American continent grew. Students use information about continental drift to sequence events of how the different continents were formed.
Curated OER
Non Native Species: English Ivy-Landscape Plant or Deadly Killer?
Students study the impact that invasive species have on biodiversity and more natural areas.
Curated OER
Growing Garden Companions.
Students understand that some plants grow better with other plants. For this companion planting lesson, students observe the "three sisters" growing system used by the Native Americans. Students understand that small gardens grow better...
Curated OER
Alaska the 'Poster State" For Climate Concerns
Students read an article on Alaska and its climate concerns. In this research lesson plan students create a poster that contrasts Alaska then and now that pertains to climate change.
Curated OER
Branching Out
Students investigate the causes and effects of the spread of tree diseases in the U.S., and research certain American species of trees and the diseases that commonly threaten them. They create pamphlets to help identify healthy and...
Curated OER
Non Native Species: English Ivy-Landscape Plant or Deadly Killer?
Young scholars examine an area overrun by English Ivy. They explore how invasive species affect an ecosystem. They also study about the lack of biodiversity and how to measure it out in the field.
Rainforest Alliance
How Do Jaguars and Howler Monkeys in Belize Depend on Us?
How does weather play a role in the lives of land and sea creatures? Find out with a lesson plan focused on habitats and the ways animals from different homes are connected. Here, learners explore how the life of a jaguar and...
Global Oneness Project
Resiliency Among the Salmon People
Is losing cultural traditions the cost of social progress, or should people make stronger efforts to preserve these traditions? High schoolers watch a short film about the native Yup'ik people in Alaska and how they handle the shifts in...
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Students write from an animal's perspective. In this writing lesson students explore the landscape of San Francisco prior to the arrival of the explorers. Students research animals indigenous to the area.
Curated OER
Poetry In the World Around Us
Students engage in a lesson which is designed as a literacy connection to science lessons on the effects of water on plants. This lesson uses an excellent Reading Rainbow episode on the effect of drought, and then rainfall, have on the...
Curated OER
Adaptations/ The American Horseshoe Crab
Eighth graders engage in a lesson about the horseshoe crab. They investigate the various adaptations of the organism. Students also conduct research to find how the crab is used for manufacturing different medicines. They synthesize the...
Curated OER
Path Map for the Lake Bonneville Flood
Pupils use a digital atlas of Idaho to explore the effects of the Lake Bonneville Flood. They become familiar with how floods shape our earth and change landscapes. Students graph a a timeline of the rise and fall of Lake Bonneville.