Our Home, Our World: Discovering Earth and Space Science in Kumamoto & Montana Educator's Guide

Funded by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnerships and Museum of the Rockies, this curriculum promotes educational learning through the sciences of paleontology, geology, and astronomy.

These lessons were designed thoughtfully to be effective in both Japanese and American classrooms and museums. All partners contributed to writing and developing these lessons and activities. The format of each lesson plan blends the very different ways our two cultures structure curriculum. While some portions of this curriculum are adapted for our different cultures (like curriculum standards), our goal is that educators in both our cultures will be able to teach these lessons the same way, further uniting our communities.

Lessons cover star stories, star charts, constellations and classifying stars, volcanoes, natural disasters, sedimentology, practices of paleontology, fossils, and evolution.

Full Paleontology Unit:

  • Paleontology Lesson 1: Practices of Paleontology
  • Paleontology Lesson 2: Different Times, Different Fossils
  • Paleontology Lesson 3: Transforming Land and Life

Full Geology Unit:

  • Geology Lesson 1: Volcanic Landscapes
  • Geology Lesson 2: Natural Disasters - Our Changing Landscapes
  • Geology Lesson 3: Sedimentology - Building Our Landscape