Clara becomes Marie, The Mouse King becomes a rat, and the Shadyside section of Pittsburgh becomes the setting for a modern interpretation of Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. Intended as a resource guide for a 2012 performance, the...

Develop a tie-breaking policy to determine a league champion. The assessment presents a scenario of finding a champion of a league with three teams tied. Pupils devise and defend a system that allows for only one team to be determined...

Space shuttles traveled around Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour, way faster than trains, planes, or automobiles travel! In the 13th installment of 22, groups graph different speeds to show how quickly spacecraft move through...

Thirty percent of energy used by schools is used inefficiently! Part two in the series of 12 has groups perform energy audits of their schools as part of the Cool Schools Challenge. Each group is assigned a specific room, performs the...

Looking for a performance assessment that asks individuals to demonstrate their competency in writing about informational text? Use Frederick Douglass' essay "On the Dred Scott Decision," and an excerpt from Abraham Lincoln's 1857 speech...

Switching indoor water fixtures to low flow reduces water usage by more than 45 percent. This and other solutions to reduce water usage have both pros and cons. Scholars view videos of different solutions, discuss them in small groups,...

Measure health as a triangle, with each side representing different aspects of health: physical, emotional/mental, and social. High schoolers complete a self-assessment of their health in all three areas before scoring their progress and...

What skills are necessary to interact with different types of text? Twenty-first century learners live in a digital world and must develop a whole new set of skills to develop media literacy. Class members engage in a series of...

Learners investigate how solar energy is converted into heat in part two of the 10-part Discover Your Changing World series. They build and test homemade solar cookers to boil water and cook rice. Pupils consider the impact of heat...

Students observe aquatic plants and animals and identify their systems. In this plants and animals lesson plan, students compare systems of organisms and orally express how plants and animals rely on each other.

Students investigate how the six natural regions of Arkansas work together to form the economic system of the state. They read a paragraph and articles about the state and complete an activity that demonstrates interdependence. They...

Students study the history of currency and the monetary system of historic Akan people, who lived on the Atlantic coast of Africa. This outstanding series of lessons is multi-disciplinary and contains many activities for different...

In this geometry learning exercise, 10th graders use systems of linear equations to solve word problems which involve supplementary and complementary angles.  The one page learning exercise contains ten problems.  Answers are...

Students demonstrate how to use the global grid system. In this map skills lesson, students use a world map to locate various locations. Students identify locations based on the global grid system. Students complete a worksheet as an...

Practice solving two equations with two unknowns. Here are five problems for using the substitution method. Included are clear, concise step-by-step instructions for the learner to follow. Problems start out easy and gradually get...

Studentsare introduced to the idea that people have rights. They voice opinions about whether children should have special rights and be treated differently then adults. The main purpose of the activity is to get students thinking and...

Just between us, this is a pretty cool lesson! Given two functions with the same slope, learners write three new functions whose outputs are all between the given functions. The question is open-ended, allowing pupils to explore the...

A list of activities inspires self-awareness and mindfulness. Scholars practice identifying emotions and expressing their feelings while using their hands, mind, and social skills to complete tasks. Activities include story...

Can you easily lift more than your own weight? With a pulley system, almost anyone can manage this challenge. Scholars adjust the mechanical advantage (number of pulleys), weight of object being lifted, and the length of rope pulled. The...

Young mathematicians explore the maximun area for patio with the added complexity of finding the mimimum cost for construction. First, they maximize the area of a yard given a limited amount of fence and  plot width v. area on a...

Students graph systems of linear inequalities. For this linear programming and profit lesson, students explore linear programming problems. They graph a feasible region in a linear programming problem and identify the profit lines. ...

Martin Luther King Jr's " I Have a Dream" speech and Atticus Finch's closing argument during the trial of Tom Robinson both address the societal need to overcome racism. After examining the rhetorical devices and figurative language used...

Challenge high schoolers with a thorough math resource. The 20-page test incorporates questions from upper-level high school math in applied and higher order questions.

How can a candidate get the most votes, yet still lose the race for the presidency? This is has happened more than once in American history, including in the elections of 2000 and 2016. Using an activity for creating group notes, young...