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Midnight Dumpers
Students explain how pollution affects ground water. They participate in a simulation to discover the location of an illegal dump. Students explore the monetary benefits, risk and environmental concerns are factors in business decisions.
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Measures To Combat Mad Cow Disease
Learners read an article at CNNfyi.com about Mad Cow disease. They identify and explain bovine spongiform encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. They formulate ways to combat mad cow disease.
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Ozone Layer
Students read a CNNfyi.com article in order to identify causes of ozone depletion. They compare and contrast the effects of chlorofluorocarbons and bromine on the ozone. They develop a plan to prevent future destruction of the ozone.
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A Practical Experiment In Colonization
Role-play and simulation exercises are fantastic ways to help learners understand the reality behind many social and historical events. Pretending they are colonists, upper graders choose a location, create a history, establish laws, and...
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Choosing the Best Candidate
Who would win an election between Napoleon and Julius Caesar? Group your class up to analyze and discuss which of their given choices would make the best presidential candidate, given specific criteria. The potential candidate list...
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A Lesson To Accompany "The First Bank of the United States: A Chapter in the History of Central Banking"
Here is an interesting topic. Learners examine the economics that led to the founding of the First Bank of America. They participate in a reader's theater experience depicting the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson...
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Presidential Election Year: Major Issues
Whether or not it's a presidential election year, this debate activity will spark research on current political issues. Split your government scholars into 4 groups and assign each a political party. One person will be the "candidate"...
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What About Shady Acres?
Students participate in a simulation activity where they must decide whether or not to preserve an untouched forest. During the role play, students attend public hearings, discuss the pros and cons of nature development, create...
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French Connections
Learners use Internet links to plan a 3-day tour of France. They role-play a typical encounter that may be experienced during their trip.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Music of African American History
High schoolers examine role spirituals have played in African American history and religion, examine Harriet Tubman's use of spirituals in her work, explore power of spirituals in Civil Rights Movement, and work with oral tradition,...
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Dietician/Nutritionist
Explore the difference between a dietician and a nutritionist and then examine how these professionals serve the community. A PowerPoint presentation and accompanying worksheet are provided to teach this career exploration material. A...
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Project Peace Process
Students collaboratively write a peace plan as they role play citizens of foreign countries. In this current events lesson, students take on the role of Israelis or Palestinians, research background information and current political...
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Striking a Balance
Middle schoolers demonstrate understanding of food chain by assuming roles of animals, playing tag, and simulating feeding relationships.
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Rights in Early America
Get your historians to hop into someone else's 18th century shoes with a simulation on rights in early America. Each individual gets an identity card, indicating their race, gender, and status (slave or free). Areas around the room are...
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Gelatin Volcanoes
Students investigate magma flow using gelatin volcano models. In this earth science instructional activity, students sketch the magma bodies as observed from the top of their model. They explain why magma moves that way.
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Modeling the Solar System
Young scholars build a scaled model of the solar system. In this space science lesson, students arrange them according to their distances from the sun. They analyze each planet's unique features such as density and relative gravity.
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Where's the Water? Stream Side Science
After a whole-class discussion of water reservoirs, ten liters of water are given to each lab group to represent Earth's total amount of water. They divide the water into smaller containers, each representing one of those reservoirs. The...
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The Spread of Aids
This is an effective simulation of how communicable diseases such as AIDS can be spread throughout a population. Classmates exchange samples from their individual cups of liquid: one of them containing a dilute NaOH solution, and the...
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Gender, Sex, and Slavery
While examining slavery's impact on women, historians compare and contrast the perspectives of a plantation mistress and an enslaved woman, both reflecting on the system of forced prostitution. Text analysis and written responses create...
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Resources and Economic Development
Identify natural resources in the world and how they translate into economic development. In this global economy instructional activity, your class will utilize the Internet to view an Oregon Time Web which they research to examine the...
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Genetically Modified Organisms
High Schoolers complete a variety of activities as they examine the ethics of (and take a position concerning) genetically modified organisms in the field of agriculture. They complete a PowerPoint demonstration to go along with the unit.
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Art Critic for a Day!
Middle schoolers practice evaluating art by creating a research project and presentation. They use the Internet and library to discover a piece of art or artist whom they feel has an impact on the world of art. Next, they create a...
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Was There an Industrial Revolution? Americans at Work Before the Civil War
High schoolers investigate the First U.S. Industrial Revolution. They identify positive and negative effects of early industrialization, read first-hand accounts, role-play and interview individuals, and participate in a debate.
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English Lesson Plans for Grade 8
Demonstrate how to engage in a polite and professional conversation with this banking and interfacing lesson. Focusing on explanatory and informaitonal texts, middle schoolers write sentences using banking and finance terminologies....