Lesson Plans
Vermont Geography Alliance produced Lessons:
Mission Geography -- What happens when NASA and geographers collaborate? They create mission geography!
Mapping your watershed -- Combining technology and geography (Fall 2003)
Spello - An orienteering lesson
Mental Map Postcard - A mental mapping/communication activity
Geography and Music - Using music from around the world students identify with cultures other than their own.
Tactile Maps - Students use 3-D objects to create maps.
Ancient Egypt: Connecting Literature and Geography - Through Library resources students learn to find geographic concepts.
There is No Place Like Home - U.S. immigration during the 1800's studied by using maps and comparisons.
The Hunter - Using Children's Literature to Teach the Geography of Africa - This lesson shows how the interaction of physical and human processes shapes places.
Putting the World Into Perspective - In this lesson, students create and interpret a mental map of the world's continents within a problem-solving environment.
Thematic Maps of Your School - This lesson develops a student's understanding of how to design, research, draw, and use thematic maps to depict geographic information and problems.
Where Should We Put A Store? - This lesson shows students how to turn population data into simple density maps which can help them make decisions about their world.
Journey of a Wood Thrush - This lesson presents the relationship between two ecosystems (temperate mixed forest and tropical rain/cloud forest) by studying the migration of a wood thrush from the Green Mountains of Vermont to Monteverde, the "green mountains" of Costa Rica.
If the World Was a Village . . . Examining Ethnocentrism - This lesson examines the concept of ethnocentrism and our perceptions of ourselves as Americans in the world.
Population Change in Vermont, 1990 - 2000 - Students will improve their mapping skills and knowledge about population distribution and change in Vermont at the county level.
Introduction to Field Mapping with a Compass and Pace - This lesson uses field mapping as an application of basic geometry and algebra.
Lesson Plan Links:
http://www.vtearthinstitute.org/vtstandards.html - This site from the Vermont Earth Institute has lesson plans that are related directly to the Vermont Standards.
USGS http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb/teachers/lesson_plans.htm#maps - Nice site with grade appropriate units for mapping, plate tectonics and other stuff. It's evolving so check back frequently.
http://geog.pdx.edu/oga/lessons_new.html - Great lessons from Oregon.
http:/www.cas.sc.edu/sege/lessons.htm - Great lessons from South Carolina.
http://www.geography.unr.edu/GAIN/gain.html - Many good lessons from Nevada.
http://www.keene.edu/orgs/geogranite/lessonplans.htm - Find a ton of great lesson from New Hampshire.
http://mga.drury.edu/lessons/index.htm - Great lessons from the Missouri Geographic Alliance!
http://fga.freac.fsu.edu/resources.htm- Good lesson plans here from Florida - many really good ideas.