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Urban Planning: Plan a City
Students analyze the concept of urbanization by planning the placement of some of the major urban/suburban features that make up most cities. They arrange the cultural features to benefit the people who live there, and maintain respect...
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Continents and Oceans on the Move
Students create an awareness of the vast percentage of water covering the earth. They relate similarities/differences between topographical maps and other maps of various time periods. Students examine how to use a topographical map.
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Wegener and Plate Tectonics: A Hands-On Lesson
Students are introduced to and experiment with the basic concepts of plate tectonic theory as well as assess the history of the theory of plate tectonics. They explain and illustrate the basic concepts through diagrams and models of...
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Building A Topographic Model
Students visualize, in three dimensions, features represented by contour lines on a topographic map. They see that the different elevations shown on a two dimensional topographic map can be used to build a 3-D model.
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Rocks in our Backyard
Students examine igneous and sedimentary rocks. They observe and identify geological formations in their community, analyze igneous and sedimentary geological layers using a geological map, and use GPS to locate geological formations.
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The Great Continental Drift Mystery
Students stud the concept of Pangaea by using Wegener's clues to construct a map of the continents joined together. They determine how fossil distribution can be used to enhance the study of continental drift. They locate the...
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Earthquakes And Volcanoes
Students investigate the concept of plate tectonics through focusing a research study upon the occurrence of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. They find information that is used for class discussion. Students complete a mapping of...
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Pangaea Puzzle
Students explore plate tectonics and the formations of the Earth's surface and why maps are distorted. In this Earth's surface lesson plan students complete a lab and answer questions.
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What is a Dry Forest?
Students explore the importance of the dry forest. In this science lesson, students discuss the history of dry forests and changes that have occurred due to human interaction. Students create a map showing the historical range of the dry...
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Penguins Marching in Your Classroom
Sixth graders examine how penguins adapt to their Antarctic environment. Once they locate Antarctica on a map, they describe its characteristics and differences from other continents. After describing how penguins differ from more...
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The Distance Between Us and Them: Sea Floor Spreading in the Atlantic Ocean
Students examine how geologists determine rates of sea floor spreading between two tectonic plates. They apply mathematical concepts such as the calculation and use of velocities and conversion from one set of units to another.
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John Muir in California
Fourth graders listen to key events in John Muir's life and plot locations on a California map. They discover that John Muir was an immigrant to California who encountered environmental problems and found solutions.
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Meteorology
Fourth graders study how atmospheric conditions change while naming the things that make the weather change. They investigate the affects of air masses, weather fronts and high/low pressure by looking at weather maps from newspapers.
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Creating a Coastal Area
Students design and lay out a map of a coastal area that includes a bay, an estuary, an ocean entrance, and prime beach lands. They write a plan outlining solutions to the economic problems of their community and present their map and...
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Comparison of Snow Cover on Different Continents
Students use the Live Access Server (LAS) to form maps and a numerical text file of snow cover for each continent on a particular date. They analyze the data for each map and corresponding text file to determine an estimate of snow cover...
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Wild Habitats
Students research and Illustrate the natural habitats of giraffes and other animals imported into ancient Rome. They draw a map of Europe, North Africa, and West Asia and draw the animals that come from each region in their proper places.
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PLATE MOVEMENTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Pupils label three geological maps with continents provided to analyze the relationships between the movement of tectonic plates and the changes in the climate. In small groups, they discuss their findings and form hypotheses about the...
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Bioregions of California
Learners map out the bioregions of California by examining the species and environment in different areas of the state. They use information and pictures from a PowerPoint presentation to complete a map handout and play a trivia game.
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I Know Where You Are!
High schoolers study what a GPS is and use it to challenge themselves and find positions on a map. In this investigative lesson students find various points on a map using a GPS system and answer questions on a worksheet.
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An Uphill Swim
Students explore the concepts and engineering principles used in a canal lock system and apply those concepts to navigate a boat through a working model of a canal lock waterway.
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Recycling In Japan
Students participate in a lesson that is focused on the concept of recycling. They conduct research to find out about the history of recycling and how it is done in the present day.
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Weather and Climate Around the World
Students explain the difference between climate and weather. They gain concepts of currents and discuss how the currents have an affect on climate and weather. Students gain knowledge of the instruments that meteorologists use to predict...
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How Deep is the Ocean
Students predict and then analyze the layout of the tectonic plates that form the ocean's floor using mapping skills and Inquiry based problem solving, They compare the depth of various regions in the ocean with the geologic age to...
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What's Goin' Down?
Young scholars explore the concept of environmental stewardship. In this service learning lesson, students investigate the locations of the world's rain forests and concerns regarding the world's rain forests.