Curated OER
Earth and Space Science: Exploring Earthquakes
Young scholars explore earthquakes. In this earthquake lesson, students research earthquakes and identify where they take place. Young scholars use map skills to track down earthquake locations. There are internet sites suggested in this...
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Is Portland, Oregon Experiencing Global Warming?
Students use data to determine if the climate in Portland has changed over the years. In this weather lesson students complete line graphs and study long wave radiation.
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The Pilgrims
Students use distance measuring tools to follow directions and chart the path the pilgrims made from Plymouth, England to Boston, Massachusetts. In this Pilgrim voyage lesson, students use a map to chart the distance traveled by the...
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Mapping School Grounds
Students map and analyze the natural and cultural environment of the school grounds. In small groups, they sketch the natural and cultural features of each side of the school building, create a map, participate in a class discussion,...
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Westward Expansion
Students locate California and New York on a map and explore available means of travel in the 19th century. Students explore the role of trade in pioneer America and simulate various barter transactions.
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GPS Scavenger Hunt
Pupils go on a GPS scavenger hunt. They use GPS receivers to find designated waypoints and report back on what they found. They compute distances between waypoints based on the latitude and longitude, and compare with the distance the...
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From Where to Where?
Students find locations based upon their latitude and longitude coordinates. In this latitude and longitude lesson, students locate points on a grid and learn how to use an astrolabe.
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Solar Cell Energy Availability From Around the Country
Students determine areas that are the most likely to produce solar energy by using NASA data. In this solar energy lesson students analyze plots and determine solar panel use.
Mr. Head's 6th Grade Classroom
Absolute Location
How do we know where we are in the world? A presentation for middle schoolers explains absolute location and other geography terms such as relative location. It also gives scholars the opportunity to practice finding absolute location on...
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Is Grandpa Right, Were Winters Colder When He Was a Boy?
Young scholars compare current weather data to historic data to see if there is a temperature change. In this weather lesson students complete a lab activity and determine average changes in temperature, precipitation and cloud cover.
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Map Coordinate Bingo
Students play a bingo-type game to locate cities by coordinates. They explain the use of orientation on a map and identify cities in the western hemisphere. They compare road maps, shutttle images, and a CIR image and obtain an...
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Tell Time With Your Feet
Students discover what the latitude and longitude of their location is. They start walking and measure their shadow. They fill in a chart to discover the approximate time.
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Viewpoints
For this map worksheet, students review latitude, longitude, equator, and prime meridian. This worksheet has 5 matching and 8 fill in the blank questions.
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Eagle Creek Park (A Hike)
Students plot a hiking course using aerial photos and a topographic overlay and find the latitude and longitude of absolute locations. They measure the total distance of a hiked area and figure the area of the ground walked using Heron's...
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Snow Cover By Latitude
Middle schoolers examine computerized data maps in order to create graphs of the amount of snowfall found at certain latitudes by date. Then they compare the graphs and the data they represent. Students present an analysis of the graphs.
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Science: Hurricanes As Heat Engines
Students conduct Internet research to track the path of Hurricane Rita. They record the sea surface temperature of the Gulf of Mexico during and after the hurricane and draw conclusions about how hurricanes extract heat energy from the...
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Identifying Continents and Oceans
Students locate and identify the four major oceans and the seven continents on a world map. They use an unlabeled world map and compass rose to describe relative locations of the continents and oceans.
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What do Maps Show?
Eighth graders practice the skill of reading maps. In this geography activity, 8th graders participate in a classroom lecture on how to read a map.
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Typhoon Project
Students graph and outline the path of a typhoon. In this algebra instructional activity, students measure the path of the typhoon and create a graph with their data. They analyze the data and make predictions.
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Charles Lindberghs's Flight to Paris
Students practice map skills. In this map skills lesson plan, students locate the cities of New York and Paris on a map. Students read about the flight made by Charles Lindbergh in May 1927 from New York to Paris. Students answer 8...
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Traveling the Silk Road
Students take a virtual trip down the Silk Road. Using a map, they trace the location of the trade route and others that were developed later. They use different spices and goods to trace how they came to the Americas. They answer...
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A Real Life Example of the Distance Formula
Students answer the following question: "Using the lines of latitude and longitude, what is the distance (in degrees) if you were to travel from NASA Dryden to NASA Ames?" They use the distance formula to find the distance (measured in...
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Are We Falling Apart? Exploding Volcanoes
Students research and demonstrate volcanic activity. In this volcanism lesson, students research the types of volcanoes and define related terms using the Internet. They demonstrate volcanic activity with water, corn syrup, and flour.
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Where is ? ? ? ?
Students explain and explain the concept of a grid system. They define absolute and relative location and develop an imaginary city on graph paper using a grid system.