Curated OER
Collision Course
Students measure the speed of moving marbles and use the results to calculate velocity and momentum. They analyze the events preceding a Japanese train crash.
Curated OER
Predicting the Past
Students study how archaeologists record the past. They discuss archaeology and artifacts. They view a list of artifacts discovered by Marquette at the Illinois Village and answer questions regarding them. They complete a test about...
Curated OER
Rare, Fat, Flabby, Big-Mouthed Sharks
Students research Megamouth Sharks and write paragraphs based on their findings.
Curated OER
Vaulting Into Olympic History
Learners explore history of the Olympics. They research and then create an 'Olympics Hall of Fame' for the classroom.
Curated OER
Lewis and Clark
Ninth graders study the plants and animals Lewis and Clark discovered on their expedition. There is a plant illustrator, a plant recorder, an animal illustrator, and an animal recorder. They research the plants and animals and the ...
Curated OER
Learning the Hard Way
Students explore instances of segregated education around the world, supporting and refuting the idea through debate and persuasive essay.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Rhetorical Reading: Strategies for Active Reading
This lesson focuses on strategies for active reading such as annotating your texts, reading multiple times, and using your prior knowledge.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Listen Read Discuss (Lrd)
Listen-Read-Discuss (LRD) (Manzo & Casale, 1985) is a comprehension strategy that builds students' prior knowledge before they read a text. During the first stage, students listen as you present the content of their reading through a...
Other
Ncrel: Reading Strategies: Before, During, and After [Pdf]
This page provides a detailed chart to aid students' understanding of texts. It goes through the steps of pre-reading, during reading, and after reading, outlining what students should be thinking about as they interact with a text. This...
Able Media
Classics Tech Center: Strategies for Reading Latin Texts
Site presents strategies for reading long texts in Latin. Discusses the concept of "prior knowledge" and also gives example exercises.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Cognitive Strategies Toolkit
This article describes eight cognitive strategies - including monitoring, tapping prior knowledge, and making predictions - to help readers develop their comprehension skills.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Inferential Reading
Teaching students to "read influentially" helps them learn how to read more strategically. This technique is derived from the teaching model that learners develop knowledge via the process of interpreting new information in light of past...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Anticipation Guides
An Anticipation Guide is a strategy that is used before reading to activate students' prior knowledge and build curiosity about a new topic. Before reading a selection, students respond to several statements that challenge or support...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: List Group Label
It provides students with a way to recognize the relationships between words and concepts using their prior knowledge about a topic. The list-group-label strategy can be used before and after students read.
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Mnemonics
A mnemonic is an instructional strategy designed to help students improve their memory of important information. This technique connects new learning to prior knowledge through the use of visual and/or acoustic cues. The basic types of...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Classroom Strategies: Possible Sentences
Possible Sentences is a pre-reading vocabulary strategy that activates students' prior knowledge about content area vocabulary and concepts.
Other
Signet Classics: Scarlet Pimpernel Teachers' Guide [Pdf]
A teachers' guide to the Signet Classic edition of Baroness Emma Orczy's tale of post-revolutionary France. The guide suggests several ways to build student knowledge prior to reading the novel, and discusses the major themes. It also...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Content Area Literacy: Literature
Reading complex literary texts offers unique opportunities for students to wrestle with some of the core ethical dilemmas that we face as human beings. The growth of ethical reasoning is one of the most compelling reasons for schools to...
AdLit
Ad lit.org: Lunchroom to Classroom: Authentic Assessment & the Brown Bag Exam
A Brown Bag Exam uses found objects and images to help students activate prior knowledge and creates a framework for students to express their understanding. Students work individually and in collaboration to create concrete connections...