research project on explorers

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Big History Project

Course: big history project   >   unit 8.

• ACTIVITY: World Travelers
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• ACTIVITY: An Age of Adventure
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ACTIVITY: Explorers Mini Project

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• Quiz: Exploration & Interconnection

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Lessons and Activities about Exploration

Including a unit on polar explorers in your curriculum can do much more than engage students with a fascinating subject and meet social studies standards. You can incorporate discussions of technology, both past and present, and scientific principles such as astronomy, ecosystems, and environmental change. The study of explorers is also based on literacy skills – reading, writing, and discussion all naturally align with this type of unit. Finally, lessons might also target the History and Nature of Science content standard of the National Science Education Standards as many explorers also made detailed observations of the environment and conducted scientific studies while traveling or after returning from an expedition.

In this article, we’ve highlighted lessons and activities about exploration in general as well as polar explorers . We’ve identified resources that go beyond the traditional research assignment, such as creating a scrapbook, a papier-mache map of an expedition, or an explorer’s tool kit. A little creative thinking will go a long way in terms of engaging students and incorporating higher-order thinking skills into the unit. Some other ideas for enhancing your study of explorers:

• Compare and contrast two expeditions (historic and modern-day, in different locations) orally, using a graphic organizer, or in writing.
• Create a video re-enacting an expedition or a significant discovery.
• Conduct a mock interview of an explorer – as a skit, video, podcast, or newspaper or magazine article.
• Discuss how the success of an expedition should be evaluated. Many expeditions failed to meet their initial goal, but made unexpected, yet significant, discoveries along the way. Should these expeditions be considered successful? Why or why not?

Do you have another idea for teaching about explorers? Share it with us by leaving a comment below!

EXPLORATION (GENERAL)

Be An Explorer Every Day! (Grades K-5) Students make an exploration tool kit to explore their local surroundings. A great way to introduce or supplement lessons on historical exploration. This activity meets the following National Geography Standard : Standard 8: The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth’s surface.

Lessons of the Explorers (Grades 2-5) This article from the Education World web site takes students beyond simple biographies by asking them to consider personal characteristics of explorers and decide which explorers they most and least admire. Not a lesson in and of itself, but ideas to revise and supplement existing lessons.

Cyberspace Explorer: Getting to Know Christopher Columbus (Grades 3-5) This lesson supports third- through fifth-grade students’ exploration of multiple online sources to gather information about the life of a well-known explorer, Christopher Columbus. After completing a cyber-scavenger hunt, students use their notes to prepare a timeline and summary report. Extension activities promote critical literacy by exposing students to Columbus from the perspective of the Native American and by engaging them in a discussion of point of view. The online activity used in this lesson can easily be adapted to study polar explorers. This lesson meets the following NCTE/IRA Standards: 1, 2, 5, 8 .

POLAR EXPLORATION

Brrr! Expeditions to the North and South Poles (Grades 3-5) The purpose of this lesson is to acquaint students with the first successful explorations of the North and South Poles through a study of the four men who led them. Students will present their research on posters or with PowerPoint presentations. Note: This lesson is modified from the Polar Expeditions lesson for grades 6-8.

This lesson plan addresses the following standards from the National Council for the Social Studies:

• II. Time, Continuity, and Change
• III. People, Places, and Environments
• VIII. Science, Technology, and Society
• IX. Global Connections

Polar Explorer Activity (Grades 2-5) Students research an explorer and create a “dangling string” (similar to a mobile) with key information and highlights from the expeditions of that explorer.

• IV. Individual Development and Identity

Polar Expeditions (Grades 6-8; modify for Grades 3-5) Students learn about the polar expeditions of the early 1900s, research a single polar explorer, and create a scrapbook documenting the expedition. While the lesson was written for students in the middle grades, it could easily be modified for upper-elementary students by substituting appropriate web sites (Enchanted Learning has Arctic and Antarctic explorer pages) and children’s literature (see our bookshelf for suggestions).

To The Ends of the Earth: Research in Polar Seas (Grades 6-8; modify for Grades 3-5) In this lesson, students will learn about famous explorers of the polar regions and create a log of their own simulated journey to the Arctic or Antarctica. While the lesson was written for students in the middle grades, it could easily be modified for upper-elementary students by substituting appropriate web sites (Enchanted Learning has Arctic and Antarctic explorer pages) and children’s literature (see our bookshelf for suggestions).

This lesson addresses the following National Geography Standards :

• Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective
• Standard 8: The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth’s surface

This article was written by Jessica Fries-Gaither. For more information, see the Contributors page. Email Kimberly Lightle , Principal Investigator, with any questions about the content of this site.

Copyright February 2010 – The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0733024. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This work is licensed under an  Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license .

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Our Explorers

Changemakers and innovators.

We welcome Explorers from around the globe and seek to build a community reflecting the diversity of our world.

National Geographic Explorers are exceptional individuals in their fields who receive funding and support from the Society to illuminate and protect our world through their work in science, exploration, education, and storytelling. 

They are driven by something bigger than themselves. They see the difference between the world as it is and as it could be, and they make a choice to do something about it with courage and conviction.

This is what an explorer looks like

Explorers are infinitely curious people who are passionate about our planet and making it a better place.

In the depths of the ocean , Explorers reveal underwater worlds that sustain life on Earth. In subterranean caves, they investigate our ancient past and the very roots of humanity . At the edge of extinction, they courageously work to end wildlife trafficking and protect species at risk. On the frontlines of conservation, they help safeguard fragile ecosystems for future generations. They are driving cutting-edge technology and pushing the limits of what is possible.

• In order to create a planet in balance, we need everyone involved. Watch to see what our Explorers look like.

What it means to be an Explorer

We are deeply committed to performing our mission in a manner that earns the respect of everyone we interact with and maintains our brand trust and reputation. Our success in achieving this mission is dependent upon an unwavering personal commitment from our Explorer Community.

The Explorer Mindset

While our Explorers represent diverse backgrounds and fields of work, they are united by shared values and commitments.  National Geographic Explorers …

• are leaders and problem solvers
• are informed, curious, and capable individuals who are committed to making the world a better place
• have a sense of responsibility and respect for other people, cultures, and the natural world
• are empowered to make a difference, pursue bold ideas, and persist in the face of challenges
• observe, document, and engage with the world around them
• tell stories that inspire others
• create and foster a global community committed to a sustainable future.
• are committed to supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in their fields.

The Explorer Code

The Explorer Code is a simple credo that fosters a productive, collaborative, empathetic, and solution-oriented National Geographic Explorers community. Our Explorers are expected to exemplify this code, demonstrating integrity and acting according to the highest ethical standards.

• treat their peers, National Geographic staff, and others with respect
• present and share their work openly, truthfully, and accurately
• collaborate willingly with and support other members of the community
• set an example for and mentor other members of the community

Our global community of solution-seekers

They have diverse ideas, talents, backgrounds, and expertise. Wherever their paths take them — in the lab, behind the lens, in the classroom, or in the field — Explorers make profound contributions that help to realize our mission and vision.

Explorer cultivation and support

Our Explorers get access to valuable opportunities and resources.

Being a National Geographic Explorer means more than just receiving financial support from the Society. We make investments in each Explorer with project funding and expanded professional development, training, leadership and speaking opportunities, community building, and connections. 

Interested in becoming a National Geographic Explorer? Learn about our investment strategy and available grants .

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The National Geographic Society is celebrating Earth Month. This month only, you can make TWICE the impact to protect Earth’s oceans and natural wonders. Donate to the National Geographic Society to invest in Explorer-led projects and mission programs and help us make remarkable discoveries about the ocean’s intelligent marine life.

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10 Fun Explorer Activities

June 4, 2021

Learning about explorers? Here’s a list of activities that would be perfect to add to your explorer curriculum.

EXPLORER JOURNAL

Every good explorer has a journal, right? Fleece Fun has a great free printable explorer journal, and there are several ways you could use it. Go on your own exploration adventure and write your thoughts and discoveries, use it as a diary to write down personal thoughts as if you were the explorer, or write down several different explorers and their main exploration.

I don’t know about you, but I love including videos in my curriculum. I’m a visual learner myself and love to actually see things instead of just reading about them in a book. Here are a couple videos to check out.

PLOT YOUR NAVIGATION

What in the world did explorers do without maps or GPS? Adventures in Mommydom has a fun activity where kids can chart and graph their navigation through portolan navigation which uses the compass rose. So fun!

FUN GAME APP

Free Tech 4 Teachers shared a great app that puts kids in charge of exploring the “New World”. How fun would that be? It includes several different explorers to choose from along with their historical information, drawing expedition maps, and managing their finances so they don’t run out of money. I wish I had something like this when I was a kid!

PRINGLES CAN EXPLORERS

These are adorable! Have students decorate a Pringles can that looks like their explorer and write clues inside. White’s Workshop says that you can use this activity to present any social studies topic. They look like so much fun!

CAUSE & EFFECT GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

History is all about causes and effects, and it is important for students to realize how things are related and connected. Here is an example of a cause & effect graphic organizer that I created. Click HERE to download an empty PDF that you can use for this activity or for other topics as well.

I was introduced to this game when I taught 6th grade world cultures, and my students absolutely LOVED this game. It takes minimal preparation, and you can use it for any topic. Here’s how you play. To prepare the game you need to use PowerPoint or Google Slides and either write down the terms or put a picture of the terms on the slide. If you have 10 people or terms divide them into 2 different slides. For topics like explorers where students wouldn’t automatically know who each explorer is I would just write them down. Pair students up, with one student looking at the screen and one student with their back to the screen. Student A, who is looking at the screen, gives clues for one of the explorers until Student B guesses it correctly. Then Student A goes to the next explorer and repeats until all the explorers have been guessed. Then switch positions so now Student B gives the clues and Student A guesses. Here is my Get A Clue: Explorers on Google Slides that you can download and use in your classroom.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE foldables. Especially when you don’t have to run to the copy machine to make any copies. You just use whatever paper you have, and you choose your expectations for the foldable.

You want your students to remember the different explorers? Watch and sing along with this song several days in a row, and they will remember them in no time!

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Want your students to do a research project on explorers? Then you might like my Explorers Research Project Posters . They are very student-friendly because they help guide students in what to research. No more “deer in the headlights” looks when you assign a research project!

I hope you were able to find a couple of activities for you to use in your classroom! I would love to hear if you have another activity to add!

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Explorer Research Project

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MAKE WAVES WITH THIS FREE WEEKLONG VOCABULARY UNIT!

Explorers | Explorers Report | Explorers Research Project | Explorers Project

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This Explorer Unit is an organized way to guide your students through the research and writing process to create their own Explorer Report!

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This 23 page Explorers Report Project will help you guide your students to create meaningful, well-researched explorer reports. The Explorers Report research process will help your students practice researching, note taking, organizing, and writing skills. Included in this unit are: A List of Explorers (I pull sticks and let the kids choose. This is my checklist.) Student Directions Handout (Editable) Research Notes (Editable) Map of the World – Explorer’s Route Rough Draft Bibliography Rough Draft Report Title Page Writing Pages Map of the World – Explorer’s Route Bibliography Final Copy Page Rubric (Editable) Teacher Notes (2 pages)

Why you’ll love this resource:

• The project includes a number of skills, from researching, note taking, organizing materials, writing, and more!
• The teacher notes are very detailed and lead you through the project step by step.
• The directions pages are editable so you may customize them to your needs.
• Most students become very interested in their chosen explorer and take pride in their reports!
• Everything you need to do this project is here, organized, and ready to print. All you’ll need are books and computers for students to locate the explorer information.

If you like this unit, you might also like: State Report Native American Report Wax Museum (Biography Research Unit) Weather Play Solar System Play

Thanks so much! Jenn

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U.S. centenarian population is projected to quadruple over the next 30 years

The number of Americans ages 100 and older is projected to more than quadruple over the next three decades, from an estimated 101,000 in 2024 to about 422,000 in 2054, according to projections from the U.S. Census Bureau. Centenarians currently make up just 0.03% of the overall U.S. population, and they are expected to reach 0.1% in 2054.

The number of centenarians in the United States has steadily ticked up since 1950, when the Census Bureau estimates there were just 2,300 Americans ages 100 and older. (The Census Bureau uses calculated estimates for years prior to the 1990 census because it has identified large errors in the census counts of centenarians for those years.)

In the last three decades alone, the U.S. centenarian population has nearly tripled. The 1990 census counted around 37,000 centenarians in the country.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand how the population of Americans ages 100 and older looks today, and how it is expected to change in the next 30 years. U.S. population estimates come from the U.S. Census Bureau , and global projections are drawn from the United Nations’ population projections under its medium variant scenario .

All racial groups are single-race and non-Hispanic. Hispanics are of any race.

Today, women and White adults make up the vast majority of Americans in their 100s. This trend is largely projected to continue, though their shares will decrease:

• In 2024, 78% of centenarians are women, and 22% are men. In 30 years, women are expected to make up 68% of those ages 100 and older, while 32% will be men.
• 77% of today’s centenarians are White. Far fewer are Black (8%), Asian (7%) or Hispanic (6%). And 1% or fewer are multiracial; American Indian or Alaska Native; or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. By 2054, White and Asian adults are projected to make up smaller shares of centenarians (72% and 5%, respectively), while the shares who are Hispanic (11%) or Black (10%) will be larger. (All racial categories here are single-race and non-Hispanic. Hispanics are of any race.)

The U.S. population overall is expected to trend older in the coming decades as life expectancies increase and the birth rate declines. There are currently roughly 62 million adults ages 65 and older living in the U.S., accounting for 18% of the population. By 2054, 84 million adults ages 65 and older will make up an estimated 23% of the population.

Even as the 65-and-older population continues to grow over the next 30 years, those in their 100s are projected to roughly double as a percentage of that age group, increasing from 0.2% of all older Americans in 2024 to 0.5% in 2054.

Centenarians around the world

The world is home to an estimated 722,000 centenarians, according to the United Nations’ population projections for 2024. The U.S. centenarian population is the world’s second largest – the UN estimates it at 108,000, slightly larger than the Census Bureau’s estimate.

Japan is the country with the greatest number of people in their 100s, at 146,000. China (60,000), India (48,000) and Thailand (38,000) round out the top five.

In each of these countries, centenarians make up less than 1% of the overall population, but combined, they account for more than half (55%) of the world’s population ages 100 and older.

Looked at another way, centenarians make up a bigger proportion of the total population in Japan, Thailand and the U.S., and smaller shares in China and India, which have large but relatively young populations. There are about 12 centenarians for every 10,000 people in Japan, five for every 10,000 in Thailand and three for every 10,000 in the U.S. That compares with fewer than one centenarian for every 10,000 people in China and India.

By 2054, the global centenarian population is projected to grow to nearly 4 million. China is expected to have the largest number of centenarians, with 767,000, followed by the U.S., India, Japan and Thailand. As a proportion, centenarians are projected to account for about 49 out of every 10,000 people in Thailand, 40 of every 10,000 in Japan and 14 of every 10,000 in the U.S. Six out of every 10,000 people in China will be centenarians, as will about two of every 10,000 in India.

• Older Adults & Aging

Katherine Schaeffer is a research analyst at Pew Research Center

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Explaining the Department of Labor’s new overtime rule that will benefit 4.3 million workers

The U.S. Department of Labor issued a final rule today making changes to the regulations about who is eligible for overtime pay. Here’s why this matters:

How the overtime threshold works

Overtime pay protections are included in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to ensure that most workers who put in more than 40 hours a week get paid 1.5 times their regular pay for the extra hours they work. Almost all hourly workers are automatically eligible for overtime pay. But workers who are paid on a salary basis are only automatically eligible for overtime pay if they earn below a certain salary. Above that level, employers can claim that workers are “exempt” from overtime pay protection if their job duties are considered executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) —essentially managers or highly credentialed professionals.

The current overtime salary threshold is too low to protect many workers

The pay threshold determining which salaried workers are automatically eligible for overtime pay has been eroded both by not being updated using a proper methodology, and by inflation. Currently, workers earning $684 per week (the equivalent of $35,568 per year for a full-time, full-year employee) can be forced to work 60-70 hours a week for no more pay than if they worked 40 hours. The extra 20-30 hours are completely free to the employer, allowing employers to exploit workers with no consequences.

The Department of Labor’s new final rule will phase in the updated salary threshold in two steps over the next eight months, and automatically update it every three years thereafter.

• This is the equivalent of $43,888 per year for a full-time, full-year worker.
• In 2019, the Department updated the salary threshold to a level that was inappropriately low. Further, that threshold has eroded substantially in the last 4+ years as wages and prices have risen over that period, leaving roughly one million workers without overtime protections who would have received those protections under the methodology of even that inappropriately weak rule. This first step essentially adjusts the salary threshold set in the 2019 rule for inflation.
• This is the equivalent of $58,656 per year for a full-time, full-year worker.
• This level appropriately sets the threshold at the 35th percentile of weekly wages for full-time, salaried workers in the lowest-wage Census region, currently the South.
• The salary threshold will automatically update every three years thereafter, based on the methodology laid out in the rule, to ensure that the strength of the rule does not erode over time as prices and wages rise.

The final rule will benefit 4.3 million workers

• 2.4 million of these workers (56%) are women
• 1.0 million of these workers (24%) are workers of color
• The largest numbers of impacted workers are in professional and business services, health care and social services, and financial activities.
• The 4.3 million represents 3.0% of workers subject to the FLSA.

Expanding overtime protections is good for workers and manageable for employers

• The final rule will result in a transfer of $1.5 billion annually from employers to workers in increased pay.
• While that increase in wages will be enormously impactful to affected workers, it represents well under one-tenth of one-percent of total wages and salaries in the U.S. economy. Employers will be more than able to adjust to the rule without negatively impacting the overall economy.
• In addition to increasing pay for many workers, the overtime rule will also reduce excessive hours of unpaid work. Before this update to the salary threshold, the cost to employers of overworking salaried EAP workers who make more than $684 weekly was effectively zero. The concept of overtime pay is designed to protect workers’ most valuable asset—their time—and to push employers to value it too.
• Automatic updating is a smart and easy way to  simply maintain the labor standard established in the proposal. If the threshold is not updated automatically over time, it will steadily weaken as a labor standard until the next rulemaking, covering fewer and fewer workers as the salary distribution naturally rises over time with inflation and productivity growth.
• With automatic updating, employers will know exactly what to expect and when to expect it. They will also be able to get a reasonable sense well in advance of what the next threshold will be, because they will be able to track on a dedicated Bureau of Labor Statistics website how the 35th percentile of full-time salaried worker earnings in the lowest-wage Census region is evolving over time.

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Not Your Typical Tobacco Research Project: TobExA, a Community-Academic Partnership

April 25, 2024

By: Mira Garin

Housed within SDSU’s Action Research on Community Health Equity and Stigma (ARCHES) Lab, the community-based participatory research study Tobacco Harm Reduction through Expressive Arts (TobExA) is taking shape. This project aims to partner with San Diegan youth experiencing homelessness and housing instability as co-collaborators as well as San Diego Youth Services to design a novel intervention to promote resilience among youth as they reduce their tobacco use. 

“We initially weren’t planning to involve Spanish speakers because we weren’t sure we had the funds to do justice to their unique needs,” Alana recounted. However, Alana and staff at San Diego Youth Services advocated for their inclusion to ensure that their unique needs can be met. “Even though it means more work on our end,” Alana acknowledged, “I know including perspectives from Spanish-speaking youth will strengthen our project in the end and allow us to develop something meaningful for this population as well.” As one of the bilingual members of the team, Alana has taken the lead in creating materials and gathering data in Spanish. 

The primary partner organization in this effort has been San Diego Youth Services , which provides a wide variety of services including behavioral health intervention, foster care, and homeless housing support for youth aged 12-25. “It’s been so enjoyable working with the staff ,” Andy emphasized. “The strength of community-based participatory research is that community partners are engaged throughout the entire research process — from the identification of a research question to data collection to dissemination.” 

“The goal of this project is not simply to create a tool/intervention, test it once, and then walk away as funding dries up (which is the harsh reality of much public health intervention research),” Alana explained. This aspect has been particularly important to consider as TobExA approaches its last year before the academic researchers’ period of contribution ends and they must step off the initiative. “We need to create something that [our partners both] can and want to sustain even after our funding is spent.”

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