Exploring the Geography of Oklahoma with the State Geography Steward - Updated 2025

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Description: Join the Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education, Oklahoma State University, and the State Department of Education for a session on Oklahoma's geography. Steve Stadler, Ph.D. from the Oklahoma State University Department of Geography will be discussing wind power and other sources of renewable energy as an illustration of Oklahoma's unique physical and human characteristics.

Watch the recording of the session here.

Grade level(s): Middle School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Steve Stadler, Ph.D.

Tulsa Race Massacre Session 3: Understanding the Rise of Greenwood Using the Five Themes of Geography - Updated 2025

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Description: Join the Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education for a discussion on understanding the rise of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK using the Five Themes of Geography. The content presented in this session is for upper elementary and middle school educators. This material is aligned with the Oklahoma Academic Standards for the Social Studies and the National Geography Standards.

Watch the recording of this session here.

Grade level(s): Middle School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Becca Palczynsky

Tulsa Race Massacre Session 2: Processing the Tulsa Race Massacre Through Literacy - Updated 2025

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Description: Join the Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education and National Geographic Certified Educator, Taylor Woodard, for a session on helping students process the Tulsa Race Massacre through literacy. The content presented in this session is for upper elementary and middle school educators. This material is aligned with the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies, the Oklahoma Academic Standards for English Language Arts, and the National Geography Standards.

Watch the recording of this session here.

Grade level(s): Elementary, Middle School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Taylor Woodard

Tulsa Race Massacre Session 1: What was Black Wall Street and Where is it Now? - Updated 2025

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Description: Join the Oklahoma Alliance for Geographic Education and Professor Quraysh Ali Lansana for a session about the history of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK during the years leading up to the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. This material is aligned with the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies.

Watch the recording of this session here.

Grade level(s): Middle School
Standards: OAS
Produced By: Quraysh Ali Lansana, Autumn Brown, Najah-Amatullah Hylton, Crystal Patrick

We Got Cows (and Quakes) - Updated 2025

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Description: The objective of this lesson is to introduce students to natural disasters, which ones occur in the state of Oklahoma, and their aftermath. Students will analyze the spatial patterns of natural disasters in the state using the Giant Traveling Map of Oklahoma. Students will also learn the effects of natural disasters on people and how the government responds.

Grade level(s): Middle School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Carole Hollman

Feed the Need: Taking a Closer Look at Food Insecurity in Oklahoma

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Description: Students will gain an understanding of food insecurity and hunger in Oklahoma. Students will examine the worldwide humanitarian crisis and the humanitarian relief efforts by the United Nations to address hunger around the world. Learners will create and engage in a service project stemming from this lesson. This is a tiered lesson which may be adjusted for desired level of difficulty.

Grade level(s): Middle School, High School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: LeaAnn Wyrick

Oklahoma Giant Traveling Map Escape Room - Updated 2025

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Description: Students will answer questions in an escape room format using the Oklahoma Giant Traveling Map.

Grade level(s): Middle School Standards: N/A
Produced By: Angela DeLong; Kim Richter

Oklahomans on the Move - Updated 2025

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Description: Students will use the Giant Traveling Map of Oklahoma to explore the state’s population distribution—past and present.

Grade level(s): Upper Elementary, Middle School, High School
Standards: OAS
Produced By: Clayton Canon

The Global Homeless: An Overview of the International Refugee Crisis

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Description: The objective of the lesson is to introduce students to the concept of a refugee, as opposed to economic migrants, including an analysis of the primary causes of forced migration and the three basic responses to refugee crises around the world. Students will compare an historical example of forced migration, resulting in the refugee status of one of Oklahoma’s tribal people to the status of contemporary examples of refugees in both the western and eastern hemisphere. Students are encouraged to demonstrate their own independent inquiries into the international refugee crises through the creation of a Thinglink digital product, which can be shared online with fellow students.

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

Who? What? Where? Oklahomans Who Made a Difference - Updated 2025

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Description: In this lesson, students will use the Oklahoma Giant Traveling Map to identify and gain a better understanding of notable historic and present day Oklahomans who made significant contributions to the state.

Grade level(s): Elementary (Adaptable to 8th & 10th grade American History)
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Lynn Tilley

It Happened in Oklahoma! Historically Significant State and Local Landmarks - Updated 2025

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Description: In this lesson, students will use the Oklahoma Giant Traveling Map to identify and locate important state and local landmarks, as well as gain a better understanding of their historical significance.

Grade level(s): Elementary (Adaptable to 8th & 10th grade American History)
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Lynn Tilley

Blown Away! Oklahoma's Wind Energy

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Description: The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn the fundamental parts of a windmill, to use the scientific method to isolate and adjust variables when constructing a functional windmill that lifts weights, and to understand energy conversions/transfers and how a windmill converts moving air into usable mechanical energy. Students will understand that wind power is a choice we can make that reduces pollution and climate impacts.

Grade level(s): Middle School, High School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Kylah McNabb; Teresa Potter

Examining Statistics: Oklahoma's Wind Energy

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Description: The purpose of this lesson is for students to examine statistics and understand that as a society and as individuals, we can make choices to help reduce the climatic impact of electricity generation. Students will understand that generating power with the wind is a choice we can make that will reduce the severity of environmental issues.

Grade level(s): Middle School, High School
Standards: OAS, GFL
Produced By: Kylah McNabb; Teresa Potter

Resources and Population Patterns: What's the Connection? - Updated 2025

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Description: Students will analyze data including a variety of special purpose maps of Oklahoma to determine the reason for population growth and decline in specific areas. The Giant Traveling Map of Oklahoma is used to help students understand the changing population distribution across Oklahoma.

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

The Oklahoma Standard: Tornados - Updated 2025

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Description: Students will develop an understanding of how tornados form. Identify and locate the cities where the top 10 worst tornados in Oklahoma occurred on the Giant Map of Oklahoma. They will specifically gather and analyze data from the Moore, Oklahoma 2013 tornado site using geospatial technology.

Grade level(s): Middle                    Standards: GFL, C3
Produced By: Denise Aguilar

Immigration & Ethnic Settlement Patterns In Post-Reconstruction Oklahoma, 1865 - 1900 - Updated 2025

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Description: In this lesson students will explore the different immigration and migration patterns of settlement in post-reconstruction Oklahoma, and develop an appreciation of our rich cultural and ethnic heritage.

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

I Have Heard of a Land: Using Oklahoma’s Giant Traveling Map, with Historical Maps, to Tell a Complete Story - Updated 2025

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Description: Geography is the landscape on which History happens. In this lesson, students will use an award-winning historical fiction picture book, the Oklahoma Giant Traveling Map, and a series of Oklahoma historical maps, to gain a better understanding of why Blacks from the South, single women, and other pioneers came to participate in the land runs, as well as the impact on Native Americans already living in the areas. Students will gain an appreciation and understanding that history usually has more than one perspective to events happening.

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

Oklahoma Route 66 Must-See Attractions - Updated 2025

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Description: Students will discover the Mother Road, Route 66, by analyzing the history of the road, while specifically identifying locations of 10 must-see attractions on the Oklahoma portion by using the Giant Traveling Map of Oklahoma. They will discover the importance of each attraction and will create a presentation on a selected attraction. More Route 66 information and resources are available from the Oklahoma Route 66 Association.

Grade level(s): Middle School                 Standards: GFL, C3
Produced By: Denise Aguilar

Laboring for Economic Justice

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Description: The purpose of this lesson is to compare and contrast the organized labor movement in United States history with Oklahoma’s labor history.

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

From Sodom to the Promise Land: The Exodusters

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Description: Students will identify and describe migration of African Americans following the Civil War from the Southern States westward, particularly the Exoduster Movement, and its effect on the settlement of African American settlements in what is now the State of Oklahoma. 

 Grade level(s): Middle                     Standards: OAS, GFL             Produced By: Shirley Nero