Overview: NatureMapping Lessons at a Glance

Download all of the lessons (364KB)

Lesson 1: How to Tell the Time and Date

Teach students the basics of telling time and recording dates in certain formats.

Start the curriculum by teaching students how to become good record keepers, beginning with times and dates.

What's inside:

• Analog and digital time
• Standard and military time
• Different date formats

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Lesson 2: Using Guides and Animal Size to Teach Species Recognition

Introduce students to field guides and how to identify species by size.

Teach students about taxonomy and animal diversity. This lesson is a primer on taking field measurements for animal identification.

What's inside:

• Field guide demonstrations
• Techniques for measuring animals and understanding their clues
• Nature-name activity

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Lesson 3: Using Environmental Clues to Teach Species Recognition

Build your students' observation skills by helping them identify animals through clues.

This lesson elaborates on the previous lesson about species recognition. Teach your students how to recognize animal species by making observations about their surroundings.

What's inside:

• Environmental clues
• Bird calls and a puzzle exercise
• Animal-wanted poster and rubric

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Lesson 4: How to Estimate Animal Size and Numbers at a Distance

Teach students about size-distance relationships and making group estimates.

Use this lesson to help students perceive the world around them. Students learn key math and art concepts, such as estimating and spatial relationships.

What's inside:

• Techniques for estimating animal size at a distance
• An activity on perspective drawing
• The grid system for estimating group size

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Lesson 5: Teaching Directions, Maps, and Coordinates

Give students a lesson in navigation -- from telling directions to mapping coordinates.

Prepare your students for conducting field studies with this lesson on navigation.

What's inside:

• Cardinal directions and compass usage
• Mapping techniques
• GPS units and latitude/longitude coordinates

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Lesson 6: A Lesson on Nature Note Taking

Teach your students the art of recording observations in field journals.

Help students become good note takers by teaching them the proper way to keep a field journal, a lesson crucial across all academic subjects.

What's inside:

• Observations through the senses
• Note-taking techniques
• Sit-spot activity

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Lesson 7: How to Collect and Evaluate Observations in the Field

Wrap up the curriculum with a primer on field analysis.

Round up the data students gathered in the field and teach them how to analyze it.

What's inside:

• Charts for accurate recordings
• Data sheets
• Tips for data analysis

Go to Lesson 7