K-12 Mapping Activities

Browse this collection of over 100 activities for use in K-12 classrooms that focus on creating and using maps. Have a map activity of your own? Submit it here to add it to the collection. Learn more about using maps in your class.



Current Search Limits:
College Lower (13-14)

Results 1 - 20 of 45 matches

Discovering Plate Boundaries part of NAGT:Our Resources:Teaching Resources:Teaching Materials Collection
Students work collaboratively using data maps to discover plate tectonic boundary processes. Data sets used are earthquakes, volcanos, seafloor age, and topography. Show other versions of this activity Hide The ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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A Bird's Eye View: Exploring Your Region part of EarthLabs for Educators:Earth System Science
The lab activity described here was adapted by Erin Bardar of TERC for the EarthLabs project. Summary and Learning Objectives In this Lab students focus their attention on an area significantly larger than their ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Lab 2: What's a Watershed? part of EarthLabs for Educators:Drought
The lab activity described here was created by Betsy Youngman of Phoenix Country Day School and LuAnn Dahlman of TERC for the EarthLabs project. The hands-on activity in Part A is adapted from similar lessons by ...

On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection.
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Lab 3: Normal Climate Patterns part of EarthLabs for Educators:Drought
The lab activity described here was created by Betsy Youngman of Phoenix Country Day School and LuAnn Dahlman of TERC for the EarthLabs project. Summary and Learning Objectives Students generate and explore a ...

CLEAN Selected This activity has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN collection.
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The Quaternary Glacio-Fluvial History of the Upper Midwest Using Anaglyph Stereo Maps part of NAGT:Our Resources:Teaching Resources:Teaching Materials Collection
Students examine the anaglyph stereo map (with red/cyan glasses) and use textures to generate a surficial geology map of the Upper Midwest. They can then interpret the textures in terms of landforms, geomorphic ...

It's All Connected: Global Circulation part of EarthLabs for Educators:Earth System Science
The lab activity described here was adapted by Erin Bardar of TERC for the EarthLabs project.  Summary and Learning Objectives Students are introduced to the global circulation patterns of the atmosphere and ...

Lab 1: Getting to Know the Cryosphere part of EarthLabs for Educators:Climate and the Cryosphere
The lab activity described here was developed by Erin Bardar of TERC for the EarthLabs project. Summary and Learning Objectives In Part A of this lab, students will learn about the different components that make ...

Impacts of El Nino and La Nina part of Oceanography:Activities
In this exercise, students explore NOAA and the Climate Data Center websites that provide information about El Niño. The students are then asked interpret a series of maps to describe the key changes in climate ...

Environmental Reconnaissance of a Salt Marsh part of Teaching Methods:Teaching with Google Earth:Examples
This is a field and computer laboratory exercise that introduces undergraduate students, advanced high school students, and members of the general public to using Google Earth, GPS, aerial imagery, and an online ...

Lab 1: Where's the Water? part of EarthLabs for Educators:Drought
The lab activity described here was created by Betsy Youngman of Phoenix Country Day School and LuAnn Dahlman of TERC for the EarthLabs project. Summary and Learning Objectives Using data on the world's water ...

Lab 4: Finding Coral's Ideal Environment part of EarthLabs for Educators:Corals
The lab activity described here was created by Erin Bardar and Sarah Hill of TERC for the EarthLabs project. Summary and Learning Objectives Corals, like other living animals, require a particular range of ...

Analyzing Plate Motion Using EarthScope GPS Data part of Earth Exploration Toolbook:Analyzing Tectonic Plate Motion with GPS Data
DATA: EarthScope GPS Data. TOOLS: Spreadsheet, Google Maps. SUMMARY: Learn how GPS monuments make precise measurements of Earth's surface. Graph motion data and map velocity vectors to explore tectonic motion and surface deformation in the Pacific Northwest.

Sandbox modeling part of Urban Geology:Activities
Students deform layers of colored sand to simulate features they observe in city. They construct topo maps and cross-sections based on the results of the sandbox experiment. The model is then the basis for ...

Discovering Plate Boundaries part of Urban Geology:Activities
Discovering Plate Boundaries is a classroom activity designed to introduce students to the process of observing and classifying data, in addition to the fundamentals of plate tectonics.

State Electricity on Google Earth: How many Solar Panels would it Take? part of CLEAN:CLEAN Network:Teaching Materials
This activity is part of the community collection of teaching materials on climate and energy topics. These materials were submitted by faculty as part of the CLEAN Energy Workshop, held in April, 2011 and are not ...

Is Greenland Melting? part of Earth Exploration Toolbook:GreenlandMelt
DATA: Thickness, velocity, and annual melt extents of the Greenland ice sheet TOOL: My World GIS SUMMARY: Explore map layers to examine annual melting and long-term changes of Greenland's ice sheet.

CLEAN Selected This activity has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN collection.
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Exploring NCAR Climate Change Data Using GIS part of Earth Exploration Toolbook:NCAR Climate Change Data with GIS
DATA: NCAR Climate Change Scenarios. TOOL: ArcGIS. SUMMARY: Calculate summer average temperatures during the growing season (June, July, and August) using simulated, present-day, climate-modeled output and compare these to temperatures calculated using projected, future, climate-modeled output. Create a temperature anomaly map to summarize the analysis.

CLEAN Selected This activity has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN collection.
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Student-centered Experiments on Earthquake Occurrence Using the Seismic/Eruption Program part of NAGT:Our Resources:Teaching Resources:Teaching Materials Collection
Students select their own region of interest and interrogate the earthquake catalog to obtain quantitative data on the rate of occurrence of earthquakes of various magnitudes within their chosen region.

Where's the volcanic threat? part of NAGT:Our Resources:Teaching Resources:Teaching Materials Collection
Students investigate Costa Rican volcanic hazards using (a) the amount of silica in volcanic rocks, (b) a highly-simplified geologic map and (c) a satellite image of Costa Rican night time illumination (i.e., human ...

How Cities Affect Their Local Climate part of Earth Exploration Toolbook:Are Our Cities Warming the Earth?
DATA: GLOBE Program Surface Temperature. TOOL: My World GIS. SUMMARY: Explore the urban heat island effect using student collected surface temperature data. Subset large datasets, buffer others, examine spatial relationships, and gather statistics to investigate temperature differences in urban and rural school sites.

CLEAN Selected This activity has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN collection.
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