Putting the “Us” in USA

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Culture is a term we take for granted that students understand, but the nuances of prejudice that are formed by misunderstanding are difficult to overcome. As groups of people use more and more stereotypes to describe culture, it becomes obvious that a country or region's culture is not considered a worthwhile part of their human existence. Culture may very well be the most important aspect of what it means to be human and by understanding and respecting the culture of other people we will come closer to being humane.

Grade level(s): Middle School          Standards: OAS, GFL, CC            Produced By: Jayne Marley

Big Oil: Exploring Alternatives

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The goal of this lesson is to use map skills to gain an understanding of and make inferences about the effects of abundant oil supplies in the Middle East. Using maps, students will analyze data from a geographic perspective. They will gain an understanding of conflict and cooperation among specific groups over oil and religious differences. They will also have a better understanding of wind energy as an alternative form of energy.

Grade level(s): Middle School                  Standards: OAS, GFL, CC        Produced By: Teresa Potter

Campaign to End Hunger in Africa

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will understand socioeconomic issues in Africa and create a campaign to end hunger in the region.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL             Produced By: Heather Braucher

What's Up With the Yangtze River?

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will discover the benefits as well as the disadvantages of building the largest hydroelectric power station in the world at Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Glenda Sullivan

What Unsolved Mysteries Lie Beneath Stonehenge?

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will learn that more than fifteen previously unknown monuments: henges, barrows (burial mounds), ditches, and pits have recently been discovered buried beneath the ground in the area around Stonehenge.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Glenda Sullivan

The Great Wall of China

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will discover when the Great Wall of China was first built; when it was built as it exists today; who the laborers were who built the Wall; what materials were used to build it; why the Wall was built; problems encountered in maintaining the Wall even today; and new evidence as to the entire length of the Great Wall.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Glenda Sullivan

Major Cities Spanning Europe and Asia

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will learn the location of several major European and Asian cities as well as discovering important physical and cultural characteristics of these various cities.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Glenda Sullivan

The Aral Sea: An Unnatural Disaster

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will understand that water diverted for irrigation or other purposes can have a direct impact on the environment, including environments that cross international boundaries.

 Grade level(s): Middle                         Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Janet Hall

Atlantic Coastal Fall Line

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: This lesson will give the students an understanding of why major cities developed along the Fall Line of the Atlantic Coastal Region of the United States.

Grade level(s): Middle                      Standards: OAS, GFL, CC        Produced By: Lee Ann Harrelson

Questioning Chernobyl

Click on the image above to download the lesson. Also, due to the size of this lesson, click this link to download the rest of the lesson.

Description: The nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, had immediate as well as long-lasting affects on people throughout the western part of the former Soviet Union as well as throughout Europe. Students will study the reasons for using nuclear power as an energy source as well as the potential dangers.

 Grade level(s): Middle                   Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Janet Hall

Coal- China's Abundant Energy Resource: Economic Blessing or Plight?

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Coal has played a very important role in China’s rapid development, providing jobs, opportunities, and better standards of living for growing numbers of China’s people. However, as with all change and progress, there are both positive and negative repercussions.  The purpose of this activity is to help students understand and relate China’s coal mining and usage to the impact it has had on the environment, people, and economy of the country.

 Grade level(s): Middle                         Standards: OAS, GFL, CC         Produced By: Lynn Tilley

Double Cropping as a Means to Supply Food in East Asia

Click on the image above to download the lesson plan.

Description: The purpose of this lesson is to show students why double cropping will increase crop production on a limited amount of land.

 Grade level(s): Middle                       Standards: OAS, GFL, CC         Produced By: Susan Smith

Content and Literacy Connections: Analytical Writing for Geography

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The purpose of this lesson is to help students become independent thinking, readers and writers.

Grade level(s): Middle                        Standards: OAS, GFL, CC        Produced By: Pam Merrill

The Ever Disappearing Aral Sea: Understanding the Reasons for the Continuous Decline

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will develop an understanding of the importance of water to the survival of people and places. They will examine the ways human actions can impact places environmentally as well as economically. They will determine the specific causes regarding the shrinking Aral Sea in Central Asia and discuss possible ways to reverse this problem.

 Grade level(s): Middle                             Standards: OAS, GFL, CC                   Produced By: Denise Aguilar

Terraced Farming in East Asia

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The purpose of this activity is to provide students information on how terraced farming in East Asia provides solutions to their food needs.

 Grade level(s): Middle                         Standards: OAS, GFL, CC       Produced By: Susan Smith

China's Three Gorges Dam: Cause for Celebration or Controversy?

Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The purpose of this activity is to help students understand why China built the Three Gorges Dam, the controversies that arose, and the impact the construction of the dam had on the environment and people. This lesson provides an opportunity for students to understand how progress and change can have both positive and negative consequences.

Grade level(s): Middle                        Standards: OAS, CC                Produced By: Lynn Tilley

Quebec: What a Place!

Click on the image above to download the lesson

Description: Students will learn the geographic characteristics of place and develop a mental map of where this place is located while learning the characteristics of Quebec, Canada. 

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: PASS, GFL, CC             Produced By: Glenda Sullivan

Environmental Conflict and Cooperation

Click on the image above to download the lesson

Description: Students will view photographs to determine human and physical modifications and discover the conflict and cooperation of groups involved in making these modifications.

 Grade level(s): Middle                 Standards: PASS, GFL, CC             Produced By: Lee Ann Harrelson

South Sudan: A Tale of Two Countries

Click on the image above to download the lesson

Description: South Sudan is the world’s newest country.  It was a hard-won fight for independence that followed decades of war.  The war began with the discovery of oil and the belief that economically the country of Sudan would be able to rid itself of its Christian African inhabitants.  Years of genocide and ethnic cleansing followed leaving South Sudan with little except for its vast reserves of oil.

Grade level(s): Middle                Standards: PASS, GFL, CC           Produced By: Jayne Marley

An American's Experience in Japanese Culture

Click on the image above to download the lesson

Description:  Students will gain an understanding of different aspects of Japanese culture as well as comparing and contrasting the similarities and differences in Japanese and American cultures.

 Grade level(s): Middle                 Standards: PASS, GFL, CC             Produced By: Lee Ann Harrelson