Middle schoolers construct a topographic map of the Denali National Park. They identify different elevations and record historic landmarks in student science journals.

Students investigate the changes of their environment by experimenting with photography.  In this environmental observation lesson, students compare historic photographs of areas with pictures they have just taken.  Students...

What better way to make predictions about future weather and climate patterns than with actual climate data from the past? Young climatologists analyze data from 400,000 to 10,000 years ago to determine if climate has changed over...

Fourth graders watch a video that describes the climate and vegetation zones of Hawaii. They describe the different physical conditions that create vegetation zones from the sea to the mountains. In groups, they create an illustrated...

Discover Oklahoma's first farmers. Read about 14 different agriculture workers and their contribution to Oklahoma's farming. After reading, have your class complete several activities such as researching an agriculturist, writing a...

Scientists monitor seasonal changes in plants to better understand their responses to climate change, in turn allowing them to make predictions regarding the future. The last activity in the series of six has scholars analyze BudBurst...

Students compare recent and historic maps to explore landscape changes. Using photos provided, students identify prominent features on the maps. They discuss differences in landscape, human impact on watershed, and changes in natural...

Students explore animal habitats.  In this cross curriculum animal survival and writing lesson, students view a website about wild horses on Shackelford Island and discuss ways in which the horses have changed to this...

Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this lesson focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly variability and...

Lead your class in exploring their local communities as well as the general environment. As they determine continental distributions by investigating minerals, rocks, and fossils located in their local region, pupils construct...

Learners interpret magnetic field maps, rotate the coordinates to obtain different views, change the coordinate representation, and produce alternate graphical representations.

Students use historical aerial photographs and current aerial photographs to compare the change over time to the land. In this land changing lesson plan, students analyze, compare, contrast, and list the land change in their own community.

Do not overlook this set of lessons just because your school does not have a data analysis system. There is plenty of material here to administer a complete mini unit on the formation, distribution, and properties of coal. Since it...

Explore the properties of oil through an experiment. They use the scientific process to investigate oil, participate in experiments, watch videos,and use information from the internet to determine how oil has changed our...

Students gather historical snow cover and temperature data from the MY NASA DATA Web site. They compare this data to data gathered using ground measurements from the ALISON Web site for Shageluk Lake. They graph both sets of data and...

Discover colonies! Young historians will listen to a primary source journal entry read aloud with a backdrop of wave sounds. They discuss the entry, add historical facts to a chart and personal insights to another. Then they listen to...

Introduce third graders to energy waves with a hands-on geology activity, in which they answer questions and compare seismograms in the San Francisco Bay area. After a demonstration that shows how bigger waves indicate a...

Students examine drastic changes in Florida Everglades watershed, compare and contrast two watershed maps, discuss effects of addition of agriculture, loss of wetlands, and introduction of Water Conservation Areas, and predict condition...

Students study the distribution of large mammals and carnivores in an ecosystem. Using maps and historical data, they examine areas for these animals such as refuges, untouched forests, prairies and grasslands. Students determine actions...

Students compare graphs of weather occurrences. For this environmental lesson plan, students will being using the website to gather weather related information for a certain time period. The students will then graph the data that will be...

Fourth graders study various aspects of gardens. For this garden lesson, 4th graders discover the location of famous gardens on a map. Students research historic gardens.

Young scholars devise a plan that would be true to John Muir's spirit of stewardship toward Yosemite. They analyze a core map to determine the original plan and usage of the park and compare the original plan to a current park map.

Students research volcano hazards in VolcanoWorld, make a paper volcano, produce and watch the effects of ashfall, produce and watch the effects of a mudflow and create a hazard map by plotting historical ashfall/mudflow data from Mount...

Students experiment with the construction of shelters and the various types of architectural designs.  In this shelters lesson, students draw the building they live in.  Students compare and contrast buildings made today and...