United States
20th-Century Explorers Mini-Lesson
Objective: Students will get a big picture overview of some of the expeditions that have occurred within the last 110 years.
Suggested Time: 15 minutes
Reading Level: Upper Elementary
Teacher Background
Many important explorations have taken place within relatively recent years—during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. For example, MORE
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Print or Project
- A Visual Overview: Show the slideshow of photos to your class. Each has a descriptive caption and kid-friendly copy for your students to read. (Please note that there is also more extensive teacher note copy just for you.)
- Creative Caption Review: Once you’ve been through the slideshow for an overview, go back through it again. This time ask students to explain why the captions do (or do not!) work. (Example: Do you think the caption "Polar Prize" is a good one for the pictures of Captain Peary and the sealskin clothing? Why or why not?)
Click the thumbnail slides below to see the captions and kid-friendly copy up close.
- Continue the Conversation: Ask students if they would like to become a future astronaut or oceanographer. What qualifications do they think they would need to do this? Invite them to name their own personal "explorer heroes" and describe why they admire them.
- Write about it: Ask students to write a list of questions they would like to ask a person who saw the first moon landing on television in 1969. Then have them take those questions home to ask a parent or grandparent who remembers seeing the event. Discuss the findings in class the next day.
Extension Activities
Reinforcements: These worksheets will be useful as you further develop your teaching unit. The Word Power worksheet will give your students vocabulary practice with key terms from this mini-lesson and the related activity will help reinforce key concepts on explorers.
 | 20th-Century Explorers Word Power |  | Matthew Henson, Explorer |
Excerpted from:
Eyewitness: Explorer
This book takes a look at the often hazardous and perilous world of exploration from the lives and navigation techniques of the first sailors to the types of food eaten on space missions.
