Resources for theWhat Makes a City
Thrive? WebQuest
There are a numerous online resources for this Web Quest. They are
arranged by activity:
With each link, there is a description to give
you a hint on how to use it. You do not have to visit all of the
links. Since sometimes a site will be temporarily unavailable on
the Interent, I have provided some alternate sites. At the end there
is a link to an online glossary which you can use to figure out selected
geographical terms you may not know. Happy Surfing!
Where is my city?
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Excite
Travel
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This is a site that lets you create maps. It is designed for travelers.
Ignore the advertisements. Go to the bottom of the page and type in the
place that you want a map for. Zoom out to see a map of the state that
the city is in and zoom out further to see where the state is in the US.
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Welcome
To MapQuest!
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This is another mapping site like the Excite Travel one above. Use this
one as an alternate.
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USGS
Mapping Information: GNIS United States and Territories Data Base Query
Form
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This site helps you find a place by its name. It can give you the latitude
and longitude of any place it finds. Jot down the latitude and longitude
of your city. You may need it when you try to make other maps about your
city.
What characteristics
of our surroundings influence where we choose to live?
Landforms
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Landforms
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This is the first link you should visit. It provides information
about the way landforms of an area influence the settlements around it.
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Image
Gallery of Landforms
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This is an educational site about landforms. Try out the student activities
if you have time. It also has some nice pictures of different landforms.
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Landforms
& Bodies of Water
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This is a page created by students. It talks about landforms as well as
waterways.
Waterways
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Waterways
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This is the first link you should visit. It provides information
about the way waterwayss of an area influence the settlements around it.
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Landforms
& Bodies of Water
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This is a page created by students. It talks about landforms as well as
waterways.
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U.S.
Geological Survey, Water Resources Outreach Program
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This site has posters which demonstrate the importance of water. You can
see them online. Select no more that one to print.
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Water
Science for Schools
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This is an educational site about water. If time permits you can explore
some of its links.
Soil
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Soil
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This is the first link you should visit. It provides information
about the way landforms of an area influence the settlements around it.
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What
on Earth is Soil?
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This is a online tutorial about soil. Follow it through mystery #2 and
see what you find out.
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Sammy
Soil A Coloring Book Story
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This site has a coloring book about soil. Check it out!
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Soil
Biological Communities
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This is another site with a tutorial on soil. The author is writing to
older students. Use this as an alternate if you can't get to the other
sites.
Vegetation
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Vegetation
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This is the first link you should visit. It provides information
about the way vegetation of an area influence the settlements around it.
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Our
Environment
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This site talks about plants and their importance.
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Come
along on a nature walk
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This site takes you a virtual nature walk where you see different plants
and animals.
Climate
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Climate
-
This is the first link you should visit. It provides information
about the way climate of an area influence the settlements around it.
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Encyclopedia.com
- Results for climate
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This is a short encyclopedia article about climate.
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World
Temperature Extremes
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This is an interesting site that shows the hottest and coolest temperatures
around the world.
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Environment
On-Line
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This is an ADVANCED tutorial students can use it for enrichment if desired.
What are the geographic
features of my city?
Landforms
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Color
Landform Atlas of the United States
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With this site, you can create color relief maps.
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Atlas
Maps - The National Atlas of the United States of America
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Relief maps are just one of many maps that you can make at this site. This
is an alternate site to the one above.
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Highest
Points in U.S. Cities and Countries
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Use this site if you finish early. Here you can find the highest point
in different cities and countries.
Waterways
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Atlas
Maps - The National Atlas of the United States of America
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Maps of lakes and rivers are just one of many maps you can make at this
site.
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Census
TMS Home Page
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This site lets you map different things. You can choose to map the rivers
and waterways. This site is an alternate to the one above.
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Locate
Your Watershed
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Use this site if you have extra time. It shows you what land around a river,
or lake affects the body of water. The land that affects a body of water
is called a watershed. Watersheds are very important in Maryland because
of the Chesapeake Bay.
Soil
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Atlas
Maps - The National Atlas of the United States of America
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It is hard to find a web site that shows the type of soil in different
places. As a start, you can use this map maker to example type of land
cover.
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Yahooligans!
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You can search for your city with this search tool and see what you find
out.
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Ask
Jeeves for Kids
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This is another search tool. It is an alternative to the one above.
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Internet
Projects Registry
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If you don't find the information you need, you could start an online collaborative
project. Test the soil at your school. Have other students at a school
in your city do the same. Then share the results over electronic mail.
Your teacher can use this site to set up an online collaborative project
such as this.
Vegetation
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Typical
Summer Crops
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This map shows the typical summer crops grown in various places. It is
a big picture so you will need to scroll left, right, up, and down to see
it all.
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Typical
Winter Crops
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This map shows the typical WINTER crops grown in various places.
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MWCACP
Available Crop Areas
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This site lets you see when different crops are grown in different areas.
You need to click the crop you are interested to see its map.
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Interactive
Maps: North and Central America
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This site shows the status of forests in different parts of North America.
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Atlas
Maps - The National Atlas of the United States of America
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This site can be used as an alternate. It lets you look at the land cover
for different areas (as well as many other kinds of maps)
Climate
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GLOBE
Visualization Home Page
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This site has weather data that was collected by students. Check out the
data from our school, Relay Elementary in Baltimore County in Maryland.
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NCDC
Climate Visualization
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This site shows you current weather. Try it out to get a feel for how it
works. Then go onto the next site, to look at seasonal or year-long trends.
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Global
Climate Perspectives System (GCPS) Climatological Products
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This site lets you make maps and graphs of weather data (such as temperature)
over a whole year or part of a year. This is your best tool.
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Climate
Data Product
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You can see real numbers (average daily temperature) for specific cities
from this site. If you can't get the maps, you can use these tables instead.
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United
States Crop Profiles Products
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This site has a map that characterizes areas of the U.S. by climate type.
After you have done your own research, you can see if it agrees or not
with this interpretation.
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Weather
Underground: Welcome to The Weather Underground
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This is an alternate site about CURRENT weather.
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Glossary
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Back to the What makes a city thrive? Student Page
