Provide your young artists with an opportunity to study the masters and their techniques to become skilled at drawing still life. They discuss and view images from artists like Degas and Michelangelo, practice drawing techniques such as...

Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...

Second graders practice problem solving strategies. In this problem solving lesson plan, 2nd graders use strategies such as guess and check, acting out, drawing pictures and looking for patterns to solve problems. Students work in groups...

Upper graders view a series of films that depict rituals or celebrations as they occur in different cultural settings. They conduct a cultural investigation about one culture, brainstorm and research objects that have cultural or...

Drug addiction, including prescription drug addiction, begins with a reason that's different for every user. High schoolers learn more about the reasons people begin abusing drugs with a set of videos and worksheets that discuss four...

Take a close look at news reporting techniques and global issues. Begin by creating a graphic representation of developing nations and defining the term. After class discussion, the second day's activities pick up by deconstructing news...

Drawing circles isn't the only thing compasses are good for. In this first installment of a 36-part series, high schoolers learn how to draw equilateral triangles by investigating real-world situations, such as finding the location of a...

Artists employ a basic metalworking technique by embossing lines and textures into a soft metal. They look for examples of embossed metals in historical and contemporary examples. This fascinating process has been used by many cultures...

Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in...

Students read short stories containing Dolch sight words and describe the scenes and answer comprehension questions. After relating the stories to their own experiences or observations, they draw pictures illustrating a scene from the...

Young children read the story, Berlioz the Bear and complete various reading and writing activities. They learn about fiction and non-fiction, and complete graphing and writing activities for the story. Youngsters draw the bear and use...

First graders discover predicting and clarifying skills while reading "The Old Woman and Her Pig." During the reading, they check their predictions while evaluating the characters, setting, problems, and solution. On the second day,...

What is the artist's role in the post 9/11 world? How do artists use imagery to convey meaning in their work? After examining the work of Mughal artist Imran Qureshi, class members create their own work that uses combative imagery to...

How does propaganda influence our vote? Through grand conversation, scholars gain information about what is and how to identify the different ways propaganda is used in a presidential election. Using their new-found knowledge, citizens...

As part of their study of the influence of TV and films, class members consider how music, lighting, costumes, camera angles, etc. are used to influence the response of viewers.

The first instructional activity of a five-instructional activity unit designed for eighth graders has class members reading and watching a video of Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven." They then craft their narrative poem,...

Students are able to identify and describe the persuasive techniques used in editorial writing. They are able to label persuasive techniques with the logos, pathos, and ethos terminology.

Young scholars use Van Gogh's Portrait of Joseph Roulin as inspiration for their own portraits for their friends. In this portrait analysis lesson, students explore portrait art and analyze Vincent Van Gogh's use of line in his art....

Students draw conclusions from primary sources and share information and interpretations with a small group. They are introduced to the Jigsaw technique. Students discuss why a grocery receipt would be a primary source. They...

Pupils discuss forest management dilemmas and make uninformed decisions as to whether they are appropriate management techniques. They draw bar graphs of the class opinion for each dilemma. They use media sources to become more informed...

Students begin to explain the process, and gain an appreciation, of the enormity of a steel facility and the influence it had on the building of the city to run the steel plant. They access websites imbedded in this plan to view the...

Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...

“Thou know’st ‘tis common; all that lives must die/Passing through nature to eternity.” Grief, and the response to grief and loss, is the focus of a series of activities that uses Hamlet as a launchpad. Groups examine Act I, scene ii to...

Get young people thinking about their lives and current topics of social justice, advocacy, gender, race, and identity. After examining several works by Barbara Kruger, participants select a tag with one of the questions printed on it,...