Help your 11th and 12th graders gain a deeper understanding of Supreme Court decisions and law. The activities include role-play, research, and script writing that all focus on search and seizure laws pertaining to one particular case...

As part of a study of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, class members examine four Supreme Court decisions—Gitlow v. New York, Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright, and Griswold v. Connecticut—that incorporated the due...

Get high schoolers thinking about their post-secondary plans with a lesson plan that teaches them how to navigate the application and financial aid process. They create a junior/senior calendar identifying time-sensitive tasks,...

It's time to get to work! Groups assign roles, duties, and due dates for their Service Learning action plan. They then identify the approvals they will need to complete their project successfully.

Do your part to make manufacturing more manageable. A capstone project challenges each group to identify and research a manufacturing process for a product. To complete the activity, they create a presentation for business and community...

One of the key powers of the executive branch is the president's ability to pass or veto legislation proposed by Congress. Congress, the legislative branch, on the other hand, can override a president's veto. Five film clips show how the...

So many US Constitution clauses, so little time. The 17th installment in a 20-part series teaches pupils about the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. Learning through activities such as group work, connecting to current events, and...

The divide between federal and state government is responsible for much of tension that continues to this day, partly because of the US Constitution. The activities in the 14th instructional activity in a series of 20 are designed to...

The fifth installment in a writing unit that culminates with a Hyperstudio illustrated group story project, this plan is ripe with ideas for ways to design group writing projects for elementary writers. Use the whole unit as a base from...

The Fair Play Act of 2009 came about due to the actions of one woman. Young historians research Lilly Ledbetter and what she went through to get pay equal to that paid to men for the same work at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. The...

Show the class the world as they've never seen it before—from way above! Learners try to unravel the mysteries presented by rich satellite imagery, learn to interpret topographic maps, and study erosion by constructing their very...

When a person goes on trial for a crime, what options does a court have to render justice? Who are the key players in the legal system? Interested legal scholars answer the inquiries and more using an Internet-based activity, chart, and...

Two scenarios are presented for chemistry detectives to decipher. Both require the use of an infrared spectrometer and focus on the examination of polymer materials. In the first, lumps in polyethylene bottles are analyzed. In the...

The attempts of journalists to verify the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown take center stage as individuals analyze three of the initial newspaper accounts of the story. The whole class discussion then focuses...

Are our oceans really suffering due to the choices humans make? The sixth and final installment in the volume of activities challenges research groups to tackle one of six major topics that impact ocean health. After getting to the...

Due to the isolation of seamounts, their biodiversity offers a great deal of information on the development of biological and physical processes. Pupils use simple cluster analysis to rate the similarity and differences in biological...

It can be difficult to refer back to a text when analyzing it, so annotation is a great tool for kids to track what they are reading. A thorough and well-organized lesson guides learners through the process of annotating William...

Getting water to a tap requires an understanding the fundamentals of fluid flow. Groups design, build, and test a piping system to get water from the source — a five gallon bucket — to a tippy tap. The objective is to be able to...

How does carbon dioxide affect the world's oceans? The final installment in a series of six lessons has pupils research ocean acidification, then conduct an experiment to witness the delicate balance that exists in our seas. Materials...

Young engineers consider how to apply accelerometers and sensors to help prevent falls in elderly people. They consider forces of motion and gravity as part of the engineering design process.

So many bodily activities depend on homeostasis! Give learners a solid background to understand the basic process of the human body. Scholars first examine negative feedback loops contributing to body temperature regulation and then a...

Roll the presses! Or at least have your class members participate in the time-honored tradition of the student press by creating their own newspapers or journalist pieces on a social problem. After conducting research and collaborating...

In a simple but unique lesson, youngsters learn about the history of voting systems. They then collaborate in groups to develop a new honest and consistent voting method. A class-wide poll is taken, evaluating the designs of other...

How do you engage pupils in a discussion about osmosis without leaving them overwhelmed? By providing them with the tools to perform an exciting experiment, and they will see osmosis in action! Young chemists and biologists use...