Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Can You Canoe?
A neat handout immerses learners in the history of canoe making. After reading, small groups of mini engineers work to craft a canoe that will not be immersed! This is an ideal exercise in engineering design for your STEM curriculum or...
Baylor College
Microbes and Disease
Discuss how diseases have impacted human history. Divide your class into groups and assign each group one of the following: tuberculosis, malaria, plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. They read up on, complete a concept map, and present...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Can You Copperplate?
Introduce emerging engineers to the process of metal plating. This resource provides background reading on chemical engineering, plating, and corrosion. It concludes with a copper plating activity. The standards alignment list includes...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Fun with Speedboats!
After reading about marine engineers and naval architects, it's all hands on deck to design and test a speed boat. This lesson is designed for the Next Generation Science Standards in engineering and can be a centerpiece for a STEM...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Waterproof that Roof!
Stop the raindrops from getting into the house! Eager engineers learn about roofing history and waterproofing by nanotechnology. They get into groups and work on designing a waterproof roof for a small model house. The accompanying...
Texas State Energy Conservation Office
Power Systems & Efficiency
Are you looking for a reading resource about the efficiency of power systems? Here is one that introduces the output/input ratio, measurement of energy by joules or calories, and efficiency ratings. For STEM classes that are learning...
Compassion in World Farming Trust
Selective Breeding of Farm Animals
Biology learners read about selective breeding in chickens and how it has produced high-yield meat specimens and rapid egg-layers. The unpleasant effects of artificial selection are explored, as well as options to supporting this...
Curated OER
The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) Lesson
Introduce your class to one of the ways that technology is benefiting humanity. The Global Precipitation Measurement Mission involves the data collected by nine satellites from different countries with a united focus on studying world...
McGraw Hill
Chapter 20: Arthropods and Echinoderms
Learn all about echinoderms and arthropods through the attached reading, complete with stunning photographs and review questions; keep track of the key concepts using the handout. For kids with a lower reading level, consider projecting...
Beacon Learning Center
Beacon Learning Center: What Caused It?: Student Web Lesson
Students are asked to be detectives while they read and to look for the cause/effect sentences in the paragraphs. In this lesson, students read paragraphs and answer questions about it by either typing in their responses or selecting...
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Comprehensive Questions: Nonfiction [Pdf]
Questions are provided to help students determine the main idea, topic, and fact versus opinion of a nonfiction piece. Students are prompted to write a summary of an informational text.
Other
Curriculum Associates: Determining Theme or Central Idea [Pdf]
In this reading comprehension lesson unit, students are guided in learning how to find the main theme or idea of a text and understanding how details in the text convey that. Includes lots of exercises and examples, as well as...
University of Houston
University of Houston: Extra! Extra! What's the Big Idea?!
Get the feel of running a newspaper by selecting articles and pictures. If you are interested in checking out real newspapers, there is a clickable list of online newspapers for younger readers.
Other
Pde: Sas: Identifying and Understanding Use of Testimonials in Advertising
In this lesson, 8th graders analyze and compare the propaganda techniques used in informational texts, with a particular focus on the use of testimonials. Includes links to recommended resources, scaffolding suggestions, and an...
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Conclusions
This lesson focuses on writing conclusions; it lists and defines the parts of a conclusion: thesis recap, blueprint recap, and clincher and provides a sample of an effective conclusion with the parts labeled. It also offers a slideshow...
Other
The Critical Thinking Community: Tactical and Structural Recommendations
16 brilliant suggestions for creating critical thought in the classroom.
Other
Critical Thinking Community: Remodeling Lessons Grades 6 9
Learn to re-model your lesson plans to include room for critical thought and higher levels of learning. Re-modeled lessons cite specific critical thinking strategies. Wonderful examples include "Human Migration," "Integrated Grammar,"...
Beacon Learning Center
Beacon Learning Center: Trailblazing Conclusions
This tutorial focuses on conclusions for expository writing. It discusses the purpose of conclusions, what should be included, and ways to conclude.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: Comprehensive Assessment: Nonfiction [Pdf]
Questions are provided to help students determine the main idea, topic, purpose, and opinion of a piece of nonfiction. Students are prompted to write a summary of the informational text.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Critical Reading as a Learning Strategy
This tutorial focuses on critical reading using a downloadable PowerPoint presentation, "Critical Reading 101," which includes separating fact from opinion, 6 propaganda techniques, and 6 common fallacies in reasoning. Also provided is...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Summarize Informational/expository Text (English 7 Reading)
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Learn how to evaluate a summary of the original text for accuracy of the main ideas, supporting details, and overall meaning.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Synthesize Ideas in Informational/expository Text
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Learn how to synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres and support with...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Synthesize Ideas in Informational/expository Text
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Learn how to synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres and to support the...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Synthesize Ideas in Informational/expository Texts
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] Learn how to synthesize and make logical connections between ideas within a text and across two or three texts representing similar or different genres (including literary...