Redefining Progress
Have and Have-Not
Is there a correlation between a country's wealth and the extent of its ecological footprint? What exactly constitutes an ecological footprint, and how does one country stack up against the rest? This is a unique lesson to incorporate...
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I'm All Mixed Up
Middle school scientists compare and contrast heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures. They differentiate solutions, colloids, and suspensions by examining samples of each. Note that the bulk of the lesson plan directs you how to...
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American Colonies
Students record information in a database about the three American colonies. They are comparing and contrasting them. They are to log into a given database and fill in the corresponding sections. Once it is filled in the similiarities...
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Something Fishy?
Students try to draw and identify a jellyfish from a physical description. After reading an article, they discover new information about cnidarians. In groups, they research and develop dioramas about a specific cnidarian species. They...
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Hark, the Herald Atheists Sing
Students complete a one minute interview on their classmates views on religion and holiday traditions. They read an article about how Americans celebrate Christmas in different ways. Creating in-depth questions, they practice...
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I Think, Therefore I See
Learners participate in a memory experiment to discover how the eye works. After reading an article, they analyze a new technique which examines how the brain registers sight. They develop their own memory game and conduct trials using...
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The Games Robots Play
Students learn about how robots are programmed to play games. They then construct robot applications (basic computer codes) for playing tic-tac-toe comprised of if-then logic sequences. Students then compete in teams using their...
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What's the Matter? (Experiments)
Students observe a scientific discrepant event, and are then challenged to create experiments to solve the dilemma.
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Explore: Third Grade Scents
Learners use the olfactory sense to determine if a marker is appropriate 'food' or not. This experience helps students explain why so many animals rely on the sense of smell to find prey.
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Ohm's Law I
Students work to increase the intensity of a light bulb by testing batteries in series and parallel circuits. They analyze Ohm's Law, power, parallel and series circuits, and ways to measure voltage and current.
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The Tailenders
Students discuss the relationship between language and cultural identity. They view a video clip about losing ones language. They answer questions to end the instructional activity.
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What a Drag
Middle schoolers learn examples of friction and drag, and suggest ways to reduce the impact of these forces. The equation that governs common frictional forces is introduced, and during a hands-on activity, students experimentally...
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Cleaning Air with Balloons
Students examine how a pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution. They listen to a teacher-led discussion, conduct an experiment with balloons, static electricity, and pepper, and observe and record the...
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TE Activity: Heavy Helicopters
Students study the concepts of weight and drag while making paper helicopters. They measure how adding more weight to the helicopter changes the time for the helicopter to fall to the ground. They apply what they examine to the work of...
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It's Really Heating Up in Here!
Students create and observe a greenhouse effect model and discuss the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves and the Earth. They discover that Global warming is becoming an increasing concern as we learn more...
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Probability and Geometry
Students explore the ways Geometry can help solve probability problems. Students describe platonic solids and practice calculating probability using an online resource. They construct dice with various numbers of sides to demonstrate...
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Space Age Technology Comes to Earth
Students explore eight career and technical areas and make connections with business, family and consumers, and technology. They examine and describe how agriculture and natural resources impact our quality of life. They explore and...
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Get Ready, Get Set, Hibernate
Students match each body part or idea from a work bank about methods of animal adaptations for winter survival. They observe as the first one, food is covered with the whole class before completing the rest of the diagram. They discuss...
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Oodles of Poodles
Students solve equations by graphing. In this algebra lesson, students differentiate between functions and relations. They use the TI to graph their equation and analyze the graph.
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Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?
Young scholars compare wolves' behaviors to those of the human race. In this wolf lesson students write a story that will show that wolves are either good or evil.
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Daily Weather Calendar
Third graders use the internet to record the daily weather conditions. Using symbols, they take the information they gathered and create an easy to read chart. They share their charts with the class to end the lesson.
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The Water Cycle: A Repeating Pattern in Nature
Learners are introduced to the terms related to the water cycle in their native language. In groups, they describe the steps of the cycle using different materials found in their art classroom. They describe how energy helps water...
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Living or Nonliving
Third graders brainstorm a list of the characteristics of living and nonliving organisms. Individually, they find four nonliving and living items and the characteristics that make them fit into one of the categories. To end the...
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Investigation 2 - Zoom Balls
Third graders create Zoom Balls to explain how sometimes both forces of push and pull need to be used at the same time.