Background Lessons for Journey North You can use the following standards-based lessons in preparation for or during any Journey North study. Quick Links Seasonal Change: Core Background Concepts The Mysteries of Migration Skills for Tracking Migrations and the Seasons Spring's Journey North Cultivating Critical Thinkers Seasonal Change: Core Background Concepts Introduction: Tracking Seasonal Change With Journey North Seasonal change is all around us. Children see it in the length of a day, in the appearance of a flower, in the flight of a butterfly. This Slideshow and Teaching Resources introduce Journey North, a free, Internet-based program in which students explore the interrelated aspects of seasonal change. Reasons for Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of the Seasons To fully grasp what causes seasons, students need a variety of opportunities over time to explore light, shadows, and Earth-Sun models. The five activities in this mini-unit require few materials and offer some basic strategies for exploration. You can use them sequentially or individually to reinforce or lay the groundwork for your students' online investigations of seasonal change. Seeing The Light: Recognizing the Sun's Role in Living Systems Students create webs that illustrate their thinking about how sunlight affects living systems, such as food chains and webs. Global Climates and Seasons Several factors affect a region's climate and the number and types of seasons it experiences. Here students explore colorful animations of annual changes in temperature and precipitation.   The Mysteries of Migration Life Cycle Sleuth: Students Develop Hypotheses About Migration Why do animals migrate? By studying an animal's life cycle and everyday behavior closely, students can form hypotheses about the reasons for migration, and predict when migration will occur. Adaptations: Fit for Survival Students explore the meaning of physical and behavioral adaptation, consider how migration fits in, and identify adaptations that help the Journey North species they track survive. Tick-Tock, Biological Clock: The Internal Clock and a Sense of Time Students explore the concept of time and their own internal abilities to keep time. Then they consider the importance of biological clocks to migratory species. The Mental Map: A Sense of Location Scientists are beginning to understand how the map and compass systems of some animals might work together. Students create a mental map and explore the meaning of landmarks and bearings. How is Human Vacation Like Animal Migration? When people travel, a great deal of planning and preparation take place. Explore the similarities and difference between human and animal journeys. What Instincts Do Humans Have? Interview a Human Parent An “instinct” is an inborn pattern of behavior. It is something an animal can do without having to learn. As you learn about migration, keep a list of the many things animals do by instinct. Then explore examples of human instincts via an interview. Skills for Tracking Migrations and the Seasons Where in the World? Understanding Latitude and Longitude In order to track migrations and other signs of spring, students should know how to use latitude and longitude with ease. This engaging game helps them do just that. Practice With Latitude and Longitude: Find Your Lat/Long Using Google Maps In this lesson students find their own homes on Google maps and determine their precice latitude and longitude coordinates. They learn how to pinpoint the location visually and then move north, east, south, or west on the map by changing latitude and longitude values. Journey North Map Basics This teacher's lesson explains how to access and use updated Journey North maps and related data. Making Sense of Journey North Maps: Core Questions Here you'll find guidance for helping students focus on what's happening and interpret why it's happening as the season progresses. Journey North Journals: Helping Young Minds Grow This teachers' lesson offers tips on using Journey North journals to inspire learning and assessment. Cultivating Keen Observers: Teaching With Journey North Photos Observation is at the heart of inquiry. This lesson explores strategies for using Journey North's rich collection of photos to build students’ observation and thinking skills. Weather, Migrations, and Plants As students make local observations and analyze Journey North News updates, maps, and data, they should think critically about the relationship between weather and seasonal events. This activity suggests how they might do that. Predicting Migration Routes (example from monarch study) Students explore these questions: What pathways do migrating animals take? How do our predictions change as we get new data? How could we explain what influences these routes? (Also see Predicting the Arrival of Spring with Red Emperor Tulips.) How Does a Migration Move Forward? As students gather and review migration data, they calculate the speed and distance a migration travels and ponder what influences its progression. Making Sense of Unusual Findings This page of questions and links to resources will help you and your students try to "puzzle out" unusual reports and map events that contradict what we (and scientists) might otherwise expect. Choosing Random Samples: Mapping Data Made Manageable As Journey North reports flow in from observers each spring, teachers often feel awash in data. Here's some support for simplifying mapping and introducing the idea of selecting random samples without bias.   Quick Links Seasonal Change: Core Background Concepts The Mysteries of Migration Skills for Tracking Migrations and the Seasons Spring's Journey North Cultivating Critical Thinkers Spring's Journey North How Do You Define Spring? Conduct a survey to determine when spring occurs in the minds of people in your area. Follow Spring's Journey North Rather than track each individual migration, you may choose to follow the wave of spring itself. Gathering Phenology Data Follow the progression of sping using nature's clues. Cultivating Critical Thinkers You're the Scientist: Verifying Data Collected by Peers As part of Journey North's Internet Field Team, your students collect backyard observations and share them with classrooms across North America. This throng of student observers expand the eyes and ears of scientists in ways never before possible. In this lesson, students explore ways to assess the accuracy and reliability of data reported by other observers. Encouraging Inquiry-Based Research Students categorize questions they generate in preparation for pursuing answers that expand their existing knowledge. How is a Hotdog Like a Shoe? Thinking by Analogy One strategy that will help students better understand abstract concepts is the use of analogy. By making analogies, just like scientists do, students can relate things they don't understand to things they do! This activity can be used throughout the project to help students better understand unfamiliar concepts. Cycling through Controversy: Debating Values and Viewpoints Students practice taking different perspectives when debating environmental issues. Then they take these into account when posing solutions. Ask the Expert: Connecting Students to Scientists Develop questions for scientists and other specialists that can't be answered anyplace else. 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