Curated OER
Wet Water, Dry Land
Students observe and examine relationship between landforms and bodies of water, recognizing differences between them. Students then define island, peninsula, isthmus, archipelago, lake, bay, straight, system of lakes, and identify land...
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Rain Shadows and Sea Breezes
Students plot the average rainfall for a variety of cities in the United States. Using the map, they work together to determine patterns on which toxicants are transported through the air. They determine the impacts of various weather...
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Sunken Slave Ship
Students imagine they are archaeologists who are looking for treasure under the sand or sea. They work in teams to create the story and site of a shipwreck in a tub or aquarium filled with sand and water.
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Soil Composition: Then and Now
Students identify the location of their school from a 1926 digitized Soil Sample map. Using remaining landforms, they determine the type of soil identified during that time, and compare it to the soil currently found near the school.
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The Bulbs: Camas and Daffodil
Fourth graders become aware of the importance of the camas bulb to the Nez Perce people, they learn the parts of plants, and gain understanding of the interdependence of Nature. They study about the possible causes and outcomes of global...
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Clara Barton
Pupils explore the social change during the nineteenth sand early twentieth centuries. The founding of the American Red Cross by Clara Barton and the role it played in organizing help for those in need is examined in this lesson.
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Field Trip Preparation
Students make a contingency plan in case of unexpected events such as bad weather. They discuss safety and appropriate conduct.They map out a schedule to ensure that sufficient time is allotted for all activities.
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Gold Mine
Students investigate gold. In this gold panning lesson, students demonstrate the process of mining through an experiment using two boxes of sand. Students design a safe way to mine gold.
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Fossil Evidence for Plate Tectonics
Students draw maps of counties that were important to the discovery of plate tectonic theory. In this plate tectonics lesson students excavate constructed fossil sites from matching coastlines and discuss the possible explanations for...
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Traveling on the Sea of Gold: An Adventure in Japan Through Literature
Learners explore the geography and culture of Japan through the story "Sea of Gold" by Yoshiko Uchida. They draw a travel poster of Japan, label a map of Japan, use chopsticks to eat Cheerios, read and discuss various books about Japan,...
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Where Does Water Come From: The Water Cycle
Students explore the water cycle. In this water cycle lesson, students read the book The Magic School Bus Wet All Over and summarize the steps of the water cycle. Students label a picture map of the water cycle.
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Diamond Terrapin Fun Facts
For this animal worksheet, students complete 6 pages of activities and exercises pertaining to the diamondback terrapin. Students read about the life cycle, study habitat maps and color and cut out a three dimensional turtle.
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Diatom Ooze
High schoolers explore seafloor sediment. For this ocean environment lesson, students describe the characteristics of different types of seafloor sediment and oozes. They compare and discuss locations of sediments and oozes by plotting...
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Richard Misrach
Students analyze the Great Salt Lake as a resource for artistic work and other studies. In this art analysis lesson, students view maps that show the location of the Great Salt Lake including a satellite image. Students can also study...
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Longitude-Dava Sobel
In this longitude instructional activity, students read about how to determine the longitude of location while at sea and they answer 5 questions about calculating longitude.
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Scenes from Cameroon
Learners examine art by a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon. Using the artwork, they identify three physical land features. They use sand and other materials to create their own day or evening scene in Cameroon. They share their...
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Discovering the Past Using the Future: Remote Sensing and the Lost City of Ubar
Students identify and locate specific locations on the Arabian Peninsula, the Rub al Khali Desert, and present day Oman. They identify other names for the lost city of Arabia as Ubar, the Atlantis of the Sands, Iran, and the city of towers.
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The Wave - A Science Lesson Plan
Young scholars investigate the geography surrounding the Great Salt Lake and the three main benches in the area. In this Great Salt Lake lesson, students read a background for the areas geography and make their own beach to analyze wave...
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Local Area - Is the Land Connected to Us?#144
Students examine how human influences have affected the Connecticut River Valley. They determine what a region is in relation to its human influences. They label the important human features of this region including dams, canals, and...
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Body and Mindscapes
Third graders view artwork by Robert Harris of landscapes and mountains. Using a map, they locate and identify the physical features of the Canadian province they live in. In groups, they use one of his paintings and add music to...
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Missouri Time Scale
Young scholars plot events that happened years ago beginning with volcano activity. In this investigative lesson students are introduced to the different eras and plot them on a map.
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Discovering the Past Using the Future: Remote Sensing and the Lost City of Ubar
Young scholars use a video, maps, worksheets and Internet research to explore the role that sensing played in locating Ubar - the lost city of Arabia.
Curated OER
Water Above the Ground
Students create a river drainage basin using a plastic tub, sand and a pitcher of water. They simulate the flow of water through the basin then add chocolate syrup to model what would happen if stormwater pollution entered the basin.
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Field Exercise: Stream Flow Dynamics & Sedimentation
Young scholars produce a vertical profile of a stream and map and define thalweg, point bar, and cut bank. They measure flow velocity differences across a stream transect and equate flow velocity with size of substrate sediment collected.