To foster students' meaningful learning of science, we designed and implemented a unit for five third-grade students that allowed them to understand Carbon Footprint (CF) in a public school in North Texas. The unit lasted seven weeks, where students identified the effects of distance traveled and packaging on the CF of certain consumable products.…

Presents a unit on map and compass activities which introduces compass direction, magnetic declination and conversion of map measurement to familiar units. Requires four, one-hour class meetings and may be followed by a half-day orienteering activity. (Author/JDH)

This unit, based on the 1982 North Dakota Official Highway Map, is designed to familiarize junior high school students with the information provided by road maps and to help them develop essential map skills. Topics covered in the unit include using mileage logs, map legends, and map coordinates; understanding travel information; and identifying…

Satisfactory completion of this self-contained map exercise will demonstrate student ability to use symbols, legends, scale, orientation, index, and grid in map reading and map use to give directions for way-finding. The exercise should take one class period to complete. (RM)

Simple but innovative strategies that fourth-grade California teachers can use for building student knowledge of California geography while reinforcing map skills throughout a typical fourth-grade state studies curriculum are presented. (RM)

This unit on the geology and geography of Wyoming for elementary school students provides activities for map and globe skills. Goals include reading and interpreting maps and globes, interpreting map symbols, comparing maps and drawing inferences, and understanding time and chronology. Outlines and charts are provided for Wyoming geology and…

Exercises were developed using tornado statistics to provide students with a better understanding of the spatial and temporal characteristics of these phenomena in the United States. Four categories of exercises were considered beginning with the simplest and progressing to the more complex. The first set of exercises required students to…

High school students learn about the sun's effects on the earth by examining the concepts of latitude and longitude, seasons, and time. Each of these topics is treated in a separate, but similarly organized, unit. Relevant vocabulary is introduced, and complex terms are clarified with diagrams and illustrations. In the unit on time, potentially…

These learning activities involve secondary geography students in making a turf map, using map grids, solving problems dealing with map scale, and making a map scale. Complete teacher instructions are provided. (RM)

Recognizing the importance of studying the community to develop a historical perspective in students, this lesson module tells the story of Fort Wayne, Indiana from the first Indian settlements to the present. It is written in narrative form and each segment of the story contains learning activities to reinforce and enhance it. Learning activities…

This bulletin is one in a series of environmental education activity guides for grades K-12, developed and field-tested by teachers in the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools. Primarily for use in the middle grades four through six, the guides are not intended to constitute complete units in themselves. They are, rather, a compilation of…

A two-week map skills unit for fourth and fifth graders is presented. Students learn about the nature of maps, map conventions that cartographers employ to aid map readers in using maps, and map symbols and orientation. They then apply knowledge and skills learned and make their own maps. (RM)

A mini-unit introducing seventh grade students to their new school and its surrounding area can be adapted for use in any school. Following a list of learning objectives and evaluation methods, the document provides a short vocabulary lesson and five student activities and worksheets for learning to read school, city, state, and county maps. A…

This social studies unit traces the development of the American road system beginning with early Indian footpaths and continuing through horse trails, wagon roads, all-weather highways, and the first national road. The role played by the Conestoga wagon is emphasized as well as the physical, economic, and political factors involved in road…