In 1804, Lewis and Clark and a band of adventurers called the Corps of Discovery embarked on one of the great expeditions in history, the exploration of the newly purchased Louisiana Territory. Much of their time was spent on the Missouri River. Two hundred years later, four friends follow Lewis and Clark's path up the Missouri. Their journey…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a large Arab, Muslim country in the Middle East. It has been an economic and political partner of the United States for many years. This unit, designed for elementary students, provides a text, questions, mapping skills, and fun activities. Students read about Saudi Arabia to gain insights and an appreciation of…

The Kodak Photo CD (compact disk) system provides a fun, new, very accessible way to integrate images into geography classroom presentations. Graphicacy deals with spatial information that can only be expressed by a graph, map, or photograph. The importance for geography students to develop visual observation and graphic interpretive skills is…

In this curriculum unit, elementary school children read information about two neighboring countries, Israel and Jordan, to make comparisons not only between the two countries but also about their own neighborhood as well. The unit uses a variety of strategies, from reading and responding to writing prompts, to creative activities, to active video…

This teaching guide explores the history of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) National Historic Park, its building and its times. The lesson can be used in units on the early industrial period of U.S. history and in courses on geography or science and technology. Students realize the role canals played in western expansion and in the evolution…

The Water in Africa Project was realized over a 2-year period by a team of Peace Corps volunteers, World Wise Schools (WWS) classroom teachers, and WWS staff members. As part of an expanded, detailed design, resources were collected from over 90 volunteers serving in African countries, photos and stories were prepared, and standards-based learning…

In an era of globalization, Indiana's cultural, geographic, and economic relationships are becoming more prevalent. This guide is designed for use in middle and high school classrooms to encourage teachers and students to examine their own community's international relationships. The materials were developed by Indiana teachers and are organized…

Fieldwork provides an opportunity to reinforce previous class-based learning and presents students with an opportunity to encounter new ideas and practice new skills. In the K-12 classroom, however, the rhetoric-reality gap between the declared need for fieldwork and doing fieldwork is striking. This project seeks to narrow the gap between…

In 1995, the Virginia Board of Education published Virginia state Standards of Learning in English, mathematics, science, and history and social science for kindergarten through grade 12. The Standards of Learning provide a framework for instructional programs designed to raise the academic achievement of all Virginia public school students. The…

This collection of essays examines recent scholarship in history and geography. The readings are for teachers, teacher educators, curriculum coordinators, and developers of curriculum materials. Following a foreword by the series editors, Matthew T. Downey and Joseph P. Stoltman, the essays are: (1) "At Play with Education and History"…

This project introduces second-grade students to international studies by having them create a passport. Once the students have their passports, the teacher can then present lessons to small groups, discussing one foreign country per session. The teacher should begin with a traditional lecture giving pertinent facts about a country followed by…

A study which reflects how a class of disadvantaged, inner city high school students with poor reading ability achieved high quality academic learning in a world geography class through various reading media is discussed and summarized. (SM)

Describes several activities including directions for surveying and mapping the schoolgrounds, designed to help children comprehend the meaning and significance of contour lines. (JR)

This paper reviews some traditional classroom practices with their origins in Medieval educational systems, and contrasts this with the daily environment of the average student in North America today. Various supplementary multimedia techniques are discussed, particularly in relation to classroom and community use. (Author)

Inquiry strategies stressed in the multi-disciplinary materials designed for junior and senior high students with below grade level reading abilities are examined in this article. (SM)