This informational text introduces students to similarities and differences in the North and South Poles. The text is written at a grade one through two reading level. This is a PDF containing the informational text and a glossary.

In this lesson, students will use the CocoCast app to learn civics and social studies. These lessons are inspired by the San Diego Museum of African American Fine Art's exhibit entitled, "TheBusesAreComing,”of August 2022. The lessons in this series will leverage augmented reality (AR) and use CocoCast, an app created by Three Space Lab to be used on the iPad, to allow learners to examine an artifact that would be otherwise inaccessible. The choice to employ AR will allow learners to experience the complexity of the emotions surrounding the bombing of the Freedom Ride bus in Anniston, Georgia. The lesson supports the development of oracy and literacy skills as students learn to evaluate historical events. NOTE: This lesson is part three of a four lesson sequence.

In Segment 3, learners will interact with the 3D model of the burning bus using CocoCast.

Estimated time required: 1 class period.

Technology required for this lesson: Augmented Reality, Internet Connectivity, Tablet or Smartphone.

This article describes common misconceptions about the Arctic and Antarctica and how to test and teach for student understanding.

In this lesson, students will explore several contemporary issues facing the Great Lakes, including naturally occurring phenomena, such as invasive species, and issues that arise as a result of human activity, such as chemical pollutants.

Prior to remote work, work had begun on the social studies instructional strategies and supports to supplement the standards and model curriculum. The work was not completed prior to the COVID-19 shutdown but the draft version of partially completed document is what is being shared with educators.

This article highlights lesson plans and activities that help elementary students develop map skills as they learn earth science concepts.

This article provides links to web sites that describe the Arctic and Antarctica in terms of geography, climate, and ecosystems.

Geographic information systems (GIS), once used predominantly by experts in cartography and computer programming, have become pervasive in everyday business and consumer use. This unit explores GIS in general as a technology about which much more can be learned, and it also explores applications of that technology. Students experience GIS technology through the use of Google Earth on the environmental topic of plastics in the ocean in an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The use of this topic in GIS makes the unit multidisciplinary, incorporating the physics of ocean currents, the chemistry associated with pollutant degradation and chemical sorption to organic-rich plastics, and ecological impact to aquatic biota.

Students pass around and distort messages written on index cards to learn how we use signals from GPS occultations to study the atmosphere. The cards represent information sent from GPS satellites being distorted as they pass through different locations in the Earth's atmosphere and reach other satellites. Analyzing GPS occultations enables better global weather forecasting, storm tracking and climate change monitoring.

This short lesson was designed in collaboration with a 7th grade Life Science teacher (Paul Jeffery). The idea behind the lesson is to help students better understand ecological and geographical classifications by teaching them at the same time in their Life Science class and their Geography class. Teaching the two classifications together will help reinforce the idea of classification. While this lesson would best be taught outdoors it can also be adapted to the indoors.

This article provides an overview of orienteering and geocaching as well as suggestions for incorporating these activities into elementary classrooms

In this lesson, students deepen their knowledge of physical and geographic features of the Great Lakes by exploring one of the five Great Lakes in depth with a study group and creating a “for sale sign” poster to present to the class for one of the Great Lakes.

This activity is a field investigation where student create a life-sized contour map and discuss why some contour lines are different from others.

This activity is a field investigation where students will be able to observe sinkholes located in the southeastern Minnesota area and a cave system in Forestville State Park which will assist them in defining Karst topography.

This article gives background information on the Iditarod race in Alaska and shows how the race can be used in Grades K-5 classrooms to incorporate science, geography and language arts. The author provides links to resources that involve reading expository tests and writing assignments as well as working with real-time data. The article appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.

This article includes integrated lessons, activities, and ideas for teaching about exploration and polar explorers in the elementary classroom.

Mapper's Delight is an iPhone app that shows how rappers cover the globe with references to cities, neighborhoods and regions, using augmented reality to put music and language at your fingertips. With access to data from 1 million transcribed song lyrics, explorers discover how the world's most popular form of poetry and performance engages language arts, STEM, and cultural and data literacy for the 21st century.

Estimated time required: 1 class period.

Technology required for this lesson: Tablet or Smartphone.

Rap music is often about the first person narrative point of view. When one listens to rap they are listening to a story about a person who, like any other author, comes from a specific community, in a specific time and a specific place. That community may be separated or distinguished from that of the listener by media, history, or experience, but in many ways they are still connected. The artist is, at the same time, a unique expression of the community they claim to represent (local perspective) and someone who is subject to the same generalizations when they are viewed from someone not of that community (visitor’s perspective).

Estimated time required: 1 class period.

Technology required for this lesson: Tablet or Smartphone.

Students will use mathematical concepts (plotting points, slope, equations) and Social Studies (geography) to Map their way around the globe.

Estimated time required: 1 class period.

Technology required for this lesson: Tablet or Smartphone.

Students will use mathematical concepts (plotting points, slope, equations) and Social Studies (geography) to Map their way around the globe.

Estimated time required: 1 class period.

Technology required for this lesson: Tablet or Smartphone.