Europe

Using the Europe Giant Map to Plan a Backpacking Journey

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Description: This is an interactive and engaging lesson designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the European Union, the cultural touchstone of backpacking, and the geographical layout of European cities. The lesson involves reading, researching, and planning a backpacking journey through Europe. It is a hands-on activity that encourages students to apply their knowledge of geography, culture, and history to create a unique travel itinerary.

The rationale behind this lesson is to foster a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of our world, particularly within the context of the European Union. By planning a backpacking journey, students will gain insights into the geographical, cultural, and historical diversity of Europe. They will also develop critical thinking and teamwork skills along with geographic awareness. This activity is designed to make learning geography an engaging and interactive experience, moving beyond rote memorization to application and analysis.

This lesson is aligned with both National Geography Standards and Oklahoma Academic Standards, ensuring that it is not only educationally relevant but also beneficial for students. The activity provides a practical application of these standards, allowing students to see the relevance of what they are learning and how it applies to the real world. Please note this lesson may be adapted for use with digital or desktop-sized maps if the Europe Giant Map is unavailable.

Grade level(s): Middle
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Cory Williams

"Where Could I Bee" - Europe

Illustration of Where Could I Bee character

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Description: This activity contains approximately 80 riddles about countries in Europe. These may be used as bell ringers, in conjunction with the Giant Map of Europe, or to enrich other activities. Below please find a sample riddle from this packet.

Where I am now
Is too cold for a bee
They call it Greenland
But it doesn’t look that color to me
The question I’m asking
You should learn this in school
Is “What country claims Greenland
Under its rule?”

Download the packet and view Page 21 for the answer!

Grade level(s): Middle School, High School
Standards: OAS
Produced By: Richard Tuberville

Understanding Immigration Using the National Geographic Giant Traveling Map of Europe

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Click on the image above to download the lesson

Description: Students will conduct their own research on European countries and use the Giant Map of Europe to examine immigration patterns and challenges.

Grade level(s): Middle School
Standards: OAS
Produced By: Naomi Mayer

Spotting a Wind Farm

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The overall purpose of this lesson is to help students analyze a range of geographic information to develop a better understanding of human interactions with their environment via siting a wind farm in a foreign location. In this case, students’ analysis is of the island of Ireland.

Grade level(s): Middle School                  Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Scott Greene

Saving Holland

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will examine how the Dutch have altered their physical environment. They will apply close reading strategies to explain the impact of human-environmental interaction in the Netherlands.

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL             Produced By: Ann Kennedy

What Unsolved Mysteries Lie Beneath Stonehenge?

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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 Impact of Economic Development on Russia's Arctic Regions: Opportunities and Challenges

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Through exploration and analysis of primary and secondary sources of visual information, and printed and digital texts, students will discover and be able to summarize why the changing Arctic has become an important economic region for development, the opportunities and challenges that face Russia, as well as her neighboring countries in the Arctic, and how what happens in the Russian Arctic affects the rest of the global community.

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

North Sea Petroleum Reserves: The Value to Developed Nations' Economies

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The purpose of this lesson is for students to gain an understanding of the value of the North Sea petroleum reserves to the economies of Europe, both those nations that produce the energy, and the ones that consume the oil and natural gas found there. Through observing and analyzing maps, graphs, and charts of data and other information, students will integrate visual information, draw conclusions, and make predictions and inferences, to gain an understanding of the economic interconnectedness of these countries.

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

Major Cities Spanning Europe and Asia

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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

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.

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

The Dividing Line of Asia and Europe: The Ural Mountains

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will discover the physical boundary between Asia and Europe: the Ural Mountains. They locate the Urals and analyze the differences and similarities among the five regions in the mountain system. Students will determine the reasons for movement among humans in the regions as well.

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

Sweden's Mixed Economic System: Understanding the Advantages and Disadvantages

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Students will examine the similarities and differences between various types of economic systems in the world. They will compare the pros and cons of Sweden’s mixed market system and discover the types of products that are a part of this type of economic system.

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

The Political Puzzle of Modern Europe

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Students will locate the European nations of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy on a map of Europe along with their capital. They will analyze the types of government systems that each of these countries has and organize these governments on a compare-and-contrast chart.

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

EU Who?

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: The single market economy and common currency provides a unique situation for the European countries that belong to the European Union (EU). This commonality bridges the differences between governments and languages, but presents difficulties for nations with a higher gross domestic product (GDP) in their attempt to assist developing EU countries.

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

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Description: Most students will know the issues involved in historic migrations to the United States from Europe and Asia, and more recent ones from Central and South America. Fewer know of the issues involved in migrations from much of North Africa and the Arabic-speaking world to Europe. This lesson will provide information to fill those gaps of knowledge and to give students opportunities to improve their skills of visual literacy.

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

Meltdown at Chernobyl

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Click on the image above to download the lesson.

Students will analyze the effects such an event would have on the environment, not only where it takes place, but in distant places as well, by viewing a video and examining a National Geographic article. Students will determine the changes in the environment of places distant from the explosion site, and organize these effects in a poster project.

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