Teach Engineering
Racing With the Sun - Creating a Solar Car
Here's an exciting and innovative lesson plan that's sure to get your charges fired up! In it, they use engineering design principles to construct and test a fully solar powered car. One caveat: the kits that each group needs to make...
Curated OER
Savvy Surfers: Website Evaluation and Media Literacy
Sixth graders strengthen their understanding of what a high quality website is composed of. Learners evaluate three websites for accuracy, credibility, and reliability by completing a chart.
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Messages
What are the elements of a good social media post? The 13th activity in the 16-part Social Media Toolbox incorporates all of the typical components found in a Facebook or Twitter post. Scholars work together to create great posts based...
Kenan Fellows
Gridiron Rescue: One Health Football Technology Project
Helmets not included! Scholars brainstorm adjustments and sensors to football helmets in an engineering design project to help prevent injuries, such as concussions and spinal injuries.
National Math + Science Initative
Introduction to Decimals
Three activities make up an introductory instructional activity designed to create a strong foundation in comparing fractions to decimals and exploring and building decimal models. Pupils brainstorm and complete a Venn diagram to show...
Academy of American Poets
Women in Poetry
Imagine linking poetry to technology! Thirty-three lessons comprise a 6-week "Women in Poetry" unit for high schoolers. Class members research women poets, learn how to respond electronically to discussions, write their poems, create web...
Facebook
Cybersecurity, Phishing, and Spam
Take a serious look at an equally serious topic! Security scholars explore and discuss the methods hackers use to gain access to personal information during a well-written digital citizenship activity. Part of an extensive series, the...
Beauty and Joy of Computing
Search Engines
Which search engine is best? The last lab in a unit of five leads the class to investigate search engines. Working in groups, individuals read and discuss articles related to searching the Internet. Pupils develop suggestions that...
Teaching Tolerance
Privacy and Security Online
Don't forget to dust for digital footprints! Scholars engage in a whole-class discussion about how digital footprints compromise online safety and privacy. Next, small groups create posters to illustrate what it looks like to follow...
Radford University
Kite Project
Let the class' knowledge of geometry soar like the kites they create. After researching the history and science of kites, learners draw up a blueprint for their own kites. They then calculate the areas and perimeters based on the scale...
Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning
Reading Activity
Ready to integrate technology into your ELL instruction? Check out this reading lesson that has language learners using the Internet and apps, joining online book clubs, and creating blogs. A fine model of what can be done.
K20 LEARN
Alienstock: Analyzing Information, Media, And Validity
One only has to watch MSMBC and FOX News to realize that media can present the same story in very different ways. Middle schoolers have an opportunity to test their ability to determine the validity and trustworthiness of information by...
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation
Artifacts Tell Stories: Creating a First World War Museum in the Classroom
Although designed for the Canadian War Museum, the concept here is a solid one. Class members select an artifact from the First World War, examine it, research it, and craft an explanative label that they attach to their picture and post...
Curated Video
Privacy Part 2
Why is online privacy so important? Explore privacy with a group assignment for which pupils create word clouds with words they associate with privacy. A discussion and online activity follow. Learners will read articles, explore the...
TryEngineering
Data Representation: Millions of Colors
How many colors do you know? The lesson teaches scholars how digital devices use binary and hexadecimal representations to store colors. They learn how millions of colors are available on these devices.
Tech Museum of Innovation
Energy at Play
Get the ball rolling and challenge your class to figure out how to make a ball move. The instruction segment is between two STEM activities devoted to doing just that. The first is simple and involves making a ball move from some...
Curated OER
China: Land Beyond the Wall
An excellent series of five lessons on China awaits you and your young geographers. In these lessons, learners engage in hands-on activities, watch streamed video, access websites, and complete activities in cooperative groups in order...
Curated OER
Analyzing Folklore: Redwall
Brian Jacques’ novel Redwall provides the focus for a series of lessons involving the analysis of folklore. Adopting the persona of a character, groups write letters in the voice of their character, assemble a collage using Microsoft...
Teach Engineering
You've Got to See it to Believe It!
Youngsters develop an understanding of how smog is produced, and how exhaust from automobiles is one of the major sources of smog. They explore the roles that engineers play in developing technologies that reduce smog, then work in teams...
Captain Planet Foundation
Predicting Whether the Weather is Good for the Garden
Can your class predict the weather? Show them how they can come close with a lesson about creating weather instruments, including weather vanes, barometers, wind socks, anemometers, and thermometers. Kids research weather patterns and...
Teaching Tolerance
Advertisements and You
Watch out for clever advertisements! Using the lesson plan, scholars learn how to identify online ads and respond to them critically. They then use what they've learned to develop a list of strategies to evaluate web pages.
Curated OER
Acceleration Science
In collaborative groups, physics learners design and create a web portfolio of internet resoucres explaining poitive and negative acceleration, zero acceleration, and positive and negative velocity. This is a terrific assignment for...
EngageNY
Methods for Selecting a Random Sample
Random sampling is as easy as choosing numbers. Teams use random numbers to create a sample of book lengths from a population of 150 books. The groups continue by developing a technique to create samples to compare from two populations...
California Department of Education
Transitioning to High School
How do scholars prepare to take their next big step? The second in a series of six career and college readiness activities focuses on making a smooth transition from middle to high school. Groups research the resources available at their...