One of the features in this month’s issue of National Geographic is Big Cats in Danger. Next month the National Geographic Channel is running a series that they’re calling Big Cats Week. To accompany the television and print features, National Geographic Education has a number of lesson activities, videos, and interactive maps.

National Geographic Education’s Big Cats section contains nine lesson activities. There are two lessons for K-2 students, two lessons for grades 3-5, and five lessons for students in grades 6-12. Each lesson is designed to promote thinking about the threats to big cat populations and conservation efforts. Each of the lessons includes the use of images, videos, and other multimedia resources like this map and timeline that shows the decline of lion  habitat from the 19th Century through today.

Applications for Education
Perhaps it’s just my own predisposition, but I remember being fascinated by lions and tigers when I was a little kid. If your students are also fascinated by the big cats, these lessons from National Geographic could be a good way to get your students thinking about habitat, adaptation, and conservation.