Interactive
PHET

Equality Explorer

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Find the right balance between concrete and abstract thinking. After using interactive balances to explore inverse operations, learners solve multi-step equations with variables on both sides. Of course, they can still use the...
Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Hot Wire S’mores

For Teachers 4th
The proof is in the marshmallows. Believing that electric energy can transform into heat energy can be abstract, but a hands-on lesson gives pupils a concrete example. Young scientists cut marshmallows with copper wires before and...
Lesson Plan
American Battlefield Trust

Contrasting the North and South Before the War

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Fundamental differences between the North and South led to the South adopting a system of enslaved labor. These abstract ideas become concrete when class members create a standing cube using information provided in the resource. Young...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Curious George: Graphing

For Teachers Pre-K - 4th Standards
After watching an engaging video where Curious George gets to play librarian for the day, sorting books, scholars sort information and graph their data. Learners move from concrete to picture to abstract graphing and analyze...
Interactive
Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Annotate and Analyze a Paired Passage: Practice 1 (English II Reading)

For Students 10th Standards
What do a colt and a boy in a tree have in common? More than might be first apparent. The fourth interactive in a series of ten introduces readers to intertextuality, the process of using abstract thinking to consider how one text...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Learned and Innate Behavior

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners explore the differences between learned and innate behavior among humans and monkeys. They complete an assignment and read articles about two studies, which used similar test methods to show that infants and monkeys share an...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Use of Personification and Imagery in Poetry

For Teachers 8th
A reading of Theodore Roethke’s dark "Root Cellar" and Sylvia Plath’s more abstract "Mirror" launches a discussion of imagery and personification in poetry.  After finding examples of personification in the poems, class members...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vocabulary Development - Word Tiers

For Teachers 9th - 12th
This instructional activity focusing on classifying vocabulary words as concrete, abstract, or content specific could best be used with older students and adults. A list of words and the classification chart is provided.
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Voting for Two, Variation 4

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
After elections, the total amount of votes is not specified but the ratio of votes is. Your learners' job is to determine the fraction of votes John received above half of all votes. The problem can be solved abstractly or by other...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students, after reading and discussing, "The Metamorphosis," by Franz Kafka, explain the symbolism of Gregor's metamorphosis moving beyond a literal view of "he turned into a bug" into the idea that society/family/stress/environment led...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Matching Directions

For Students Pre-K - K Standards
These shapes are pointing all over the place. Learners examine rows of crazy shapes to find the one pointing in the same direction as the first in the row. Keep in mind, these aren't the shapes your mathematicians are used to. Because...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sculpture: Statues, Monuments, and More

For Teachers K
Students explore some of the components of sculpture through a variety of artists and their artwork. The six lessons of this unit utilize the sculptures experienced when students were studying American history and the Native Americans.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Objects from Material Culture to Create an Abstract Symbolic Sculpture

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders create sculptures using objects from contemporary material culture to explore issues that are relevant to a world issue and to the student's own life.
Worksheet
Curated OER

AWP 3 Unit 3 Word Search

For Students 9th - 10th
In this history learning exercise, students locate and identify various vocabulary terms related to history. There are twenty words/phrases located in the puzzle.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Symmetry

For Students 3rd - 4th Standards
Is this the line of symmetry? Scholars analyze 12 images to determine whether or not the dotted line in each reflects symmetry. There are three examples for them to reference before they start, so consider reviewing these together before...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

How Many Containers in One Cup / Cups in One Container?

For Teachers 5th - 7th Standards
The object is to model fraction division by asking “How many are in one group?” It is a difficult concept to understand, but developing the model that shows one cup to a certain amount of container or one container to a certain amount of...
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Aztec and Mayan Mythology

For Teachers 6th
Here's a fresh take on a mythology unit. Use the myths of the Mayan and Aztec peoples of Mesoamerica instead of the more traditional Greek and Roman stories. This abstract suggests possible approaches and resources that can be...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Looking Glass: Artwork of Robert Harris

For Teachers 6th - 7th
A series of 4 activities foster critical thinking, careful observation, and creative expression with the work of Canadian artist Robert Harris. Learners respond to half a painting and then to the whole picture while listening to a poem;...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hershey Chocolate Fractions

For Teachers 1st - 6th
In order for students to acquire knowledge about math concepts, and in particular fractions, they need concrete ways to practice an abstract concept.¿¿¿ Using Hershey bars builds on prior knowledge as most students have probably...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mine the Work of Franz Kline

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students investigate the artistic style of Franz Kline, the abstract artist, and create their own painting based on his industrial expressionist style. They examine the influence of his early years growing up near a coal mine in...
PPT
Mrs. Lindberg

Paul Klee - Swiss Artist

For Teachers 3rd - Higher Ed
Bring the art of Paul Klee, the famous Swiss artist, into your classroom. Ten of Klee's most-famous works are featured throughout the presentation. Learners will be able to analyze the composition, line, color choice, and his modern take...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Excessive Nominalizations, Supplemental Exercises

For Students 6th - 8th
Dave Carpenter, a reporter for the Washington Post, calls excessive nominalization “verbal gunk” or “the cliché-thick murk of corporatespeak.” Give your young grammarians practice thawing verbs frozen in abstract nouns with an exercise...
Writing
Curated OER

Paragraph Development Exercise: Familiar to Unfamiliar

For Students 11th - 12th
Demonstrate how to draw in readers by starting a paragraph with a familiar topic, and then moving into the more complex ideas after they are already engaged. Writers can read over the example, which is a bit abstract and might need...
Activity
Shmoop

ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.6

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Here's an exercise designed for the Common Core Literacy Standard L.11-12.6 that asks learners to demonstrate their ability to put together all they have learned about language. The first activity is based on a passage from Rosencrantz...

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