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Website
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: The Explorers

For Students K - 1st
Museum website on explorers of the world. Students and teachers can link to information on any of the explorers to find out about their adventure and how they may have changed the world.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Native Cultures vs. Explorers in World Court

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This lesson represents the end result of a project-based, hands-on unit in which children represent a culture they've researched in a World Court Hearing against the explorers they encountered.
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Activity
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Renaissance Explorers

For Students 9th - 10th
Overview of the motives behind the exploration of the "new world" during the Renaissance. Discusses the trading that took place between the "new world" and Europe and various riches offered in Mexico and Latin America.
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Whiteboard
SMART Technologies

Smart: Exploring Explorers

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
This is a lesson activity which is written to engage visual and kinesthetic learners in their study on explorers: Leif Eriksson, Christopher Columbus, Erik the Red, Vasco Da Gama, John Cabot, Marco Polo, and Ferdinand Magellan.
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Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Earth a New Wild: Ecosystem Explorer

For Students 9th - 10th
Three choices of virtual worlds to enter: a vulture, a wolf or a shark world. Once inside these worlds view videos, play games, and discover the ecosystems of these wild animals.
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Website
NOAA

Noaa: Ship Okeanos Explorer: "America's Ship for Ocean Exploration"

For Students 9th - 10th
Follow teams of scientists as they explore marine life and habitats of the deep ocean. Covers past and current expeditions in various regions of the world. Includes webcasts, videos, lesson plans and modules, and career resources. An...
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Website
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Young Explorers

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Abby Brown explores the world through books and activities. Each topic addresses developmentally appropriate instructional themes for kids ages 4-9. Academic content is layered in with storylines of fun and adventure! Children of all...
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Lesson Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Bridging World History: Connections Across Land

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This unit chronicles the paths taken by various explorers for delivery of commodities and religion which led to the migration of people and an onslaught of disease. Particular attention is paid to The Silk Road, The Turquoise Road, and...
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Mediterranean World on the Eve of Conquest

For Students 9th - 10th
The Library of Congress provides an essay on the reasons for exploration during the 15th century.
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Graphic
National Geographic

National Geographic: Geostories: Emerging Explorers

For Students 5th - 9th
Find out how modern-day explorers change the way we change our world in this interactive Geostory activity.
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Activity
Cengage Learning

Literature of Discovery and Exploration

For Students 9th - 10th
Teaching approach that examines the writings of European New World explorers from the late 1400s through the 1600s. Includes Christopher Columbus, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Fray...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Other Worlds the Voyage of Columbus

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site has a lesson plan designed for grades 9-12. The lesson plan deals with understanding the culture from which Columbus came, Renaissance Europe, and the culture he found in the New World.
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Handout
Other

Plant Explorers: Dr. Daniel Carl Solander (1733 1782)

For Students 9th - 10th
Profile of Dr. Daniel Carl Solander, a close friend and colleague of Joseph Banks. Solander was an eighteenth-century Swedish botanist and explorer who traveled the world collecting plant specimens for classification.
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Vikings & European Explorers Ponce De Leon

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational about explorer Ponce de Leon. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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Interactive
US Department of State

U.s. Diplomacy Center: Discover Diplomacy: Explorer

For Students 9th - 10th
Select U.S. Embassies situated around the world and understand the roles these embassies hold to further diplomacy. Find where the U.S. engages in diplomacy.
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Lesson Plan
Alabama Learning Exchange

Alex: Early American Explorers

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
During this project-based lesson, students will become detectives looking for information about early American explorers. Students will have the opportunity to navigate the Internet to locate important facts about these explorers....
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Vikings and European Explorers Viking Religion

For Teachers 4th
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Vikings and the god's they worship. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: Christopher Columbus: How the Explorer's Legend Grew and Then Drew Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
Christopher Columbus has long been exalted as a heroic figure in American history: the first explorer to establish a European presence in the New World. Americans have celebrated his arrival as far back as 1792, the 300th anniversary of...
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Website
Curated OER

Cbc: Adventurers and Mystics: Europe and the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
From the CBC television series about Canadian history comes this summary of the English and French search for a Northwest Passage. Find out how these explorations laid the basis for their claims in the New World.
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Website
Other

Canterbury Environmental Education Centre: Weather Explorer

For Students 3rd - 8th
A look at the weather, how it is measured, and how it is caused. Learn what weather is like all over the world, how global warming is affecting our planet, and how "extreme" conditions like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and drought...
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Graphic
Other

One World Magazine: Antarctica: Terra Incognita

For Students 9th - 10th
An online exhibit through which you can learn about Antarctica's explorers, the characteristics of the continent, and the peril faced by Antarctica's environment and ecosystems.
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Activity
Other

Literary Explorer Presents: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

For Students 9th - 10th
Delve into the world of Tom Sawyer when you explore this site. These links range from information about Mark Twain to the analysis of major characters.
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Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Britain in the New World

For Students 5th - 8th
Read about the early English explorers and find out why other countries did much more early exploration than the British. The defeat of the Spanish Armada turned the tide. Discover why the English now could explore and plant colonies.