Turn your algebra learners into meteorologists. Students are given three graphs that contain information about the weather in Santa Rosa, California during the month of February, 2012. Graph one shows temperatures, graph two displays the...

Make sure your house is warm in the winter. Pupils analyze graphs of heating costs for two similar houses and make hypotheses for why the costs differ. They then build models of houses with appropriate insulation to reduce heating costs.

"How did the slavery system undermine the United States' democratic principles?" This question launches a study of how the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, and Article IV,...

Students investigate how rocket liftoff demonstrates Newton's Laws of Motion. They participate in a class discussion, and construct a rocket powered by the pressure generated from an antacid tablet reacting with water.

Students explore geometry using a Rubik's Cube. For this 2-D and 3-D shapes lesson, students use the Rubik's Cube to find the center, edge and corner pieces. Students then find the dimensions of the Rubik's Cube and read the solution...

Design and construct buildings with rooftop gardens. Junior engineers work in groups to build two buildings and then perform experiments to determine whether or not a garden affects the building's temperatures. They graph and interpret...

There are some historical events that may warrant greater reflection and more in-depth analysis, and the decision to intern Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, as well as to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and...

Are marches and protests an effective form of resistance? That is the question high schoolers seek to answer in this inquiry lesson as they compare the 2020 protests to historical ones. Researchers use Venn Diagrams to compare images...

Zora Neal Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelou are featured in a guided inquiry unit. High schoolers research the lives and works of these and other Black women writers and craft an argument, using evidence from their research, to...

Students develop and build an irrigation system in which they move water from one source to two different locations. In this water irrigation lesson, students work in small groups to determine how civil engineers have developed systems...

Students describe the sounds, moods and styles of two different types of music. After reading an article, they discover how a journalist uses language to describe and give feelings to the music. They review a type of music of interest...

Students think critically about artistic freedom and evaluate the aims and effectiveness of censorship and education. They begin an investigation of the ongoing controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" by reading "New...

Twelfth graders at the Institute for Collaborative Education, a small 6-12th grade NYC public school go on internships during their final 2 cycles (February - June) in High School. The Senior Interns work four days a week in real world...

To understand why the topic of reparations is controversial, young scholars gather background information by reading articles, watching videos, and examining cases where reparations were made. Learners consider the lasting repercussions...

High schoolers research the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, as well as other primary source documents, to determine Reconstruction's impact on the North and South. The 34-page inquiry-based lesson includes a staging question and...

Fourth graders examine parallel and series ciruits. They experiment what happens if a bulb is removed from both a parallel and series circuit. They understand the differences between parallel and series ciruits,

Learners share and discuss opinions regarding the tone and content of two commercials presented during Super Bowl XLI. They critique a commercial from past Super Bowls and a commercial that ran during a television show.

Students in two classrooms share information about their communities in classrooms throughout the year. In groups, they identify the physical and human characteristics of each area and how they change through time. They also discover the...

Students participate in activities in which they explore how the space and objects around them can be altered. Using various types of software, they design and create a three-dimensional building and share it with the class. They also...

Your scientists-in-training extract DNA from a banana. Then, they wrap it around a glass rod in order to view the threads of DNA. They draw their observations.

Although preparation-intensive, this would be an unforgettable experience in materials engineering. Stimulate learners' curiosity with a slide show and then introduce them to the components of concrete. Small groups mix and pour concrete...

Second graders compare water conservation issues as they impact the past, present, and future in Nevada. In this water conservation lesson, 2nd graders perform and ice experiment to comprehend water collection differences. Students...

Have your middle and high schoolers analyze instances of celebrities using racial slurs or making prejudiced comments in public. After reading an article, they consider the roots and effects of prejudice and bias. As a class, they...

As the saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned. Young scholars use a penny activity to earn their way to an understanding of volume. Given three different-sized cylindrical containers, individuals make calculations to determine the...