China's Three Gorges Dam: Cause for Celebration or Controversy?
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
The Vanishing Rainforests of Indonesia: An Examination of Indonesia's Life Changing Problem
Description: Students will discover the reasons for deforestation. They will compare and contrast the effects of this process by looking at the good and the bad. They will locate areas in the world affected by deforestation and examine more specifically the affect this process is having on Indonesia and what the population is doing to remedy the situation.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Denise Aguilar
Gridiron Geography - 2013
Description: Using the Big 12 Football schedule as a guide, your students will learn about the geographical and historical significance surrounding the participating teams' campuses, home cities or towns, home states, mascots, players, and more!
Grade level(s): Upper Elementary, Middle School, High School
Standards: GFL
Produced By: Annie Elsberry, Janet Hall, Joseph Rohr, Ginny Rohr, Rob Miles, William E. Amburn, Denise Aguilar, and Jeffery M. Widener.
To Drill, Or Not To Drill, That is the Question!
Description: Lawmakers have to make decisions about the use of resources that affect their citizens today and in the future. Deciding how to use the nation’s resources is not an easy process when two values are at odds: preserving natural resources and delicate ecosystems or protecting the economy. This was the dilemma for lawmakers when environmentalists fought to preserve Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while opposed by oil companies who wanted to drill there for oil.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Ann Kennedy
Exploring El Niño and La Niña
Climbing Weather
Description: Students will discover the difference between climate and weather. Students will gain perspectives on varying climates in the Western Hemisphere and their connections to physical location, land use, and population.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Tiffany Neill
Expert Groups
Here We Go to the Super Bowl!
Description: Students will located and label the locations of the NFL teams on a map of the United States. Students will examine the geographical and historical significance of the mascot and stadium names for each professional team. Students will analyze the climates of the locations of the teams and determine why teams may have been placed in those locations.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Denise Aguilar
Colorado River Drainage Basin: Fight for Sustainability
Description: Students will gain a better understanding of drainage basins, water scarcity, ecosystem balance, and consequences produced by population growth. Students will examine river basins and human impact on the environment in order to construct solutions.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Heather Braucher
The Chisholm Trail
The Parrot Says: Save the Rainforest
How are Mexico and Central America Linked?
Description: Students will identify and locate the countries of Mexico and Central America by examining puzzle pieces of these countries and marking them on a map. Students will analyze and categorize the information on the map regarding Mexico and Central America. Students will compare and contrast the learned information and determine if any of the countries studied are “linked” and prove how they are connected using the discovered information from the map.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Denise Aguilar
With Whom Does the U.S. Trade, What Do They Trade, and Why?
Description: Students will conduct a community survey to learn what adults know about the United States's trade partners and what products and resources are traded. They will analyze trade data on imports and exports to draw conclusions about trade patterns.
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Ann Kennedy
Urbanization of India: "Push" and "Pull" Factors
Communism or Capitalism: Which is Best For China - A Command Economy or A Free Market Economy?
Description: In recent years the People’s Republic of China has increasingly adopted capitalist models for its economy with much success. Will China’s leaders be able to hold onto these changes or will they pull back and revert to the command economy of the past?
Grade level(s): Middle Standards: OAS, GFL Produced By: Ann Kennedy
The Political Puzzle of Modern Europe
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