Smithsonian Institution
What's the Code? Coding Robot Movements Using Sound
Tap into the desire to learn about computer codes. Pupils apply the Tap Code and the Polybius Square to send secret codes using sound. They design a code that tells a robot what movements to make and then test out their code using one of...
Teach Engineering
Flow Rates of Faucets and Rivers
Go with the flow and use a helpful resource. A set of two activities has learners investigate flow rates. They first determine the flow rate of a faucet by measuring how long it takes to fill a bucket. Using the results, they make a...
Curated OER
Discover the Similarites
Students research a choosen career on the internet. They gather pertinent and interesting information about their choosen career and construct a display for the career along with a written report which is displayed in class.
Curated OER
Revolutionary Money
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.
Curated OER
When I Was Young In Appalachia
Young scholars comapre and contrast the lifestyles of the people of the Applachian region with their own community through in-class discussions, creative projects, hands-on activities, food preservation, homemade remedies, home...
Curated OER
Masks: History and Artistry
Students research masks and their purposes,. They listen to the teacher read books about masks. Students study techniques for working with clay, they create masks from clay. Students take pictures of the process and the finished project,...
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Learners examine letters of Japanese-American children during internment in World War II. They discover what it was like in the camps and how they were treated once they were released. They also view photographs of the camps.
Curated OER
The Westward Movement
Students study the westward movement through examining stamps. For this westward movement lesson plan, students draw conclusions, determine cause and effect relationships and examine the westward movement of the United States by...
Curated OER
The High and the Flighty
Young scholars study women aviators and act out a talk show-style interview with one of them. They plot Amelia Earhart's flights on a map.
Curated OER
Japan: Images of a People
Students learn the geography of Japan and its location in reference to the United States.
Curated OER
Maskmaking
Students examine masks from various cultures focusing on the Native Americans. Using the internet, they research the purpose of the masks and various designs. They create their own mask showing their own culture and personality and...
Curated OER
History Close to Home: Creating Your Own Special Museum
Students create their own museum exhibit. In this museum creation lesson plan, students research their local history so they can decide on a theme for their exhibit and what objects they will use in order to design a museum exhibit. A...
Curated OER
India: Where Remarkable Differences Are Ordinary
Students research India and Indian culture. In this Indian research lesson plan, students research and report on the lives of Indian children. The report will be in the form of a mock interview between a journalist and an Indian child....
Curated OER
Playing Historical Detective: Great Grandmother's Dress and Other Clues to the Life and Times of Annie Steel
Students draw conclusions about an mystery person based on documents and artifacts provided. In this drawing conclusions activity, students become detectives by reading and analyzing evidence provided. This activity includes...
Curated OER
History of Famous Women
Students explore famous women who have made contributions to the world.
Curated OER
History of Famous Women
Students discover the famous women who changed society by setting positive examples. In this equality instructional activity, students research a female person who had a positive effect on the world by fighting for her equal...
Curated OER
Art in Engineering - Moving Art
Students study how forces are applied in the creation of art. They design mobiles and pop-up books while identifying which forces of nature act upon them. They look at air currents, gravity, and hand movement.
Curated OER
Games for Culminating Activity
Students need to be creative in developing an activity that will help other students review the information studied in the past four weeks. They will work effectively in groups to develop a culminating activity and to play other groups'...
Curated OER
Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women
Students investigate the plight of undocumented workers. In this social justice lesson, students research undocumented workers as well as consumer boycott movements and write about their impressions.
Curated OER
Lewis and Clark: The Language of Discovery
Students replicate some of the trailblazing methods of Lewis and Clark on a fifteen-minute "writing journey" through the school or neighborhood.
Curated OER
Stories of the Wrights' Flight
Students examine and compare primary and secondary source accounts of the Wright brothers' first flights on December 17, 1903.
Curated OER
Money Talks
Students move from fact finding to interpretation as they examine paper money from the time of the American Revolution. In the final exercise, they use the issue dates of the bills to construct a chronology of political changes during...
Curated OER
Pictures Telling Stories
Learners see the importance of primary sources in the study of history, but also the limitations of relying only on primary sources of taking the money, as it were, at face value.