Aristotle explained the idea of spontaneous generation, a concept which lasted almost 2,000 years before scientists proved it wrong. Scholars learn about the history of our understanding of the origins of life. They read examples of...

Bass drum, snare drum, tom-toms, cymbals. Perched behind their drum sets, wielding their drum sticks and wire brushes, drummers lay the grove and are the heartbeat of a band's performance. A dynamic lesson introduces young musicians to...

What role has food played in the rise and changing nature of civilizations? Here you'll find a fantastic set of lessons and materials on such topics as where food is grown in the United States, the food of ancient peoples,...

Calculate galactic orbits in a far-out resource. Pupils drag a point on a circle to graph the orbit of a fictional planet. Using the equation, they find points through which the orbit passes. To finish the simulation, users determine the...

Review the origins, leaders, wars, and contributions of ancient Hebrews. A fascinating set of discussion questions and several informative slides are yours for the taking. Use to review for a state exam.

After watching and discussing a video on the Voyage of Cabrillo, individuals craft their own origin story and design and build an artifact they feel best represents their history.

Explore legends and storytelling with your learners. After listening to some legends, pupils work collaboratively and then individually to come up with original legends about animals.

Considered an American art form, rap has its roots in places from Jamaica to the Bronx. Using a series of readings, comprehension questions, and videos, scholars explore the history of rap and its connections to the African diaspora....

Verification of provenance and the original source of an image or video can be a long and winding process. Young journalists learn about the difficulty of finding the original source of a scrape, a copy of an original news story, and...

Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his...

How does an author's choice of artistic medium influence an audience? What about how an author chooses to transform original source material? These are the questions class members grapple with as they compare scenes from episode IV...

Turn your class discussion of rock formation from ho-hum to holy hornfels! Junior geologists gain experience in identifying rock types and rock origins, with an emphasis in hypothesizing the environment needed to form certain...

Is this an interactive resource I see before me? Fret not. Here's a resource filled with sound, and a bit of fury, sure to engage learners in a study of Shakespeare's Scottish play. User can view an interview with Shakespeare, examine...

Two different groups of scientists published scientific papers in 1980 offering proof of a large asteroid hitting Earth between the Cretaceous and Tertiary layers of ground. Scholars use a worksheet to analyze the same type of data as...

Add a little fun and fancy to English language arts with an activity that challenges scholars to write a limerick. Authors follow five rules in order to compose an original poem that contains a specific rhyme scheme. 

A lesson all about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad introduces scholars to African American spirituals. By way of reading, speaking, and listening, learners discover, analyze, and decode African American spirituals. They...

It is up to the learner to find the amount of juice originally in a bottle, knowing what fraction of the juice is left, and the amount that has been consumed. The accompanying commentary provides a useful and detailed description of...

Investigate ellipses through the lens of medical applications. Pupils use a medical scenario to determine the equation of an ellipse. By using the interactive, learners determine the foci and major and minor axes of the ellipse that...

How many bones can a dog on a leash reach? Class members move a dog on the end of its leash and determine whether it can reach bones located at specific points. The learners see whether the bone lies on the circle or outside of the...

Where does a circular table fit best? Individuals move a circle representing a table into different quadrants of a room. Pupils determine which equation of the circle will place the table in the appropriate quadrant. A discussion...

Words can hurt. Words may not break bones but they can break a heart. An activity focused on the meaning of and the history of some often heard words and phrases is designed to raise awareness of the importance of choosing words...

As the culminating activity in a unit study of poetry, class members demonstrate what they have learned about poetry by creating a notebook containing original poems they have written, published poems they enjoy, and analyses of...

Learners formulate new applications for simple machines in an original invention that solves a common problem. They brainstorm ideas for a new product using simple machines and communicate a finished project through an oral,...

Imagine using narrative essays to encourage change. This multi-week unit plan does just that. After reading a series of articles from Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America, class members examine the...