Sometimes it is difficult to grasp topographic maps. Here is a clever presentation designed to help your middle school earth scientists understand. Beginning with a side view of a pair of mountains, a graphic guy walks up one slope. As...

How is the wind up there? The class builds a topography model using materials available in the classroom, then place wind flags in different locations on the landscape. Using a fan as a wind source, pupils collect data about how wind...

In small groups, energy engineers research and make a topographic map of a marine natural resource. They report to the rest of the class pros and cons of extracting their assigned resource. The two activities may take up to four class...

Introduce middle or high schoolers to topographic maps with this PowerPoint. After a review of longitude and latitude, display and describe contour lines and intervals. Also explain map scale. This is a useful presentation for a social...

Begin by showing a six-minute video, Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level as an anticipatory set. Pupils draw a topographic map of a potato continent. Finally, they will visit NOAA's sea levels online map and NASA's carbon dioxide...

A beautiful tapestry map of North America is examined by geology masters. The map incorporates the topography and geology of different regions. You can purchase printed copies or a large poster of the map, or if you have a computer lab...

Students examine the use of topographic maps as two dimensional representations that show elevations and slopes with contour lines. They read maps of the Salt Lake City, Utah area and complete the associated worksheets that show map...

Underclassmen create a cone-shaped landform and then draw a contour map for it. Then they examine a quadrangle (which was easily located with an online search), and relate it to what they experienced. The accompanying worksheet is...

Most of this lesson is spent working on the "Bathymetry Worksheet." It includes a graph of the changes in sea level over the past 150,000 years and a bathymetric map of changes in an imaginary coastline over time. Participants answer...

Students explore the information depicted on topographic maps. They construct a 3-D topographic map of a local area. They go on a field trip to the depicted area and compare the 'real world' with their models.

An explanation of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Geographic Information System (GIS) is given in this presentation. Uses and applications are considered. How it works and sources of error are also touched upon. A large...

The earth sciences are the focus for this Jeopardy-style review game. Categories include geology, space, scientific investigation, meteorology, and oceanography. Diagrams and pictures are involved with most of the questions, making this...

After viewing a map of lights at night over a variety of geographic formations, young topographers connect the location of light clusters to geographic features that encourage human settlement. They list causes and effects of large...

A Gallery Walk is a technique that allows small groups to visit different stations, where they examine and discuss materials about an overarching topic. Questions about rivers and fluvial processes are available in this resource;...

Students compare geography to topography. In this topography activity, students examine the topography of the surfaces of the Earth. Students compare one feature of Earth to one feature of Mars and present in a PowerPoint.

In this contour map worksheet, students use a given contour map to answer 16 questions about the area shown on the map. Topics include the gradient from one spot to another, the elevation, the direction of the flow of the Red River, the...

Young scholars examine and study the routes of trailblazers. For this American history lesson, students find a route on a map and compare that to the route of trailblazers. Young scholars will then compare that map with a topographical...

Students acquaint with co-participants and identify the practice basic compass functions and orienteering procedures. They also work together to solve a small challenge. Students then identify how the challenge of orienteering relates...

Students are introduced to drawing and interpreting topographical maps. They each cut through there Jell-o mountain at regular height intervals, and trace around the shape of the Jell-o cut off at the height, overlaying the different...

Students analyze the details of a topographic map and create one of their own by utilyzing a map of elevations.

Can you fathom a fathom? Through this activity, learners get a grasp of how deep a fathom is and how the floor of The Great Lakes might look. They compare topographic maps to Great Lakes navigation charts, which you will need to obtain...

A set of questions on weathering and erosion are found in this resource. Some of them can be used as discussion topics or lecture guides. There are also suggested activities such as the examination of topographic quadrangles and the...

Junior geologists examine topographic maps online and learn how to read them. they answer seven associated follow-up questions. This lesson plan is only a general outline and does not provide the details or the websites that you...

Students build a map of the Atlantic Ocean floor and mark the different depths.  In this ocean floor lesson plan students identify parts of the ocean floor that they created and discuss patterns that they see.