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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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;...

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...

Seventh graders practice reading maps.  In this geography instructional activity, 7th graders compare a topographical map to a picture of the actual place. 

Middle schoolers plot stranding sites onto a map using latitude and longitude as well as compass directions with respect to coastal features. They identify several species of marine animals that might become stranded; distinguish their...