Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

Line, shape, color, texture, space. The first in a three-part series of lessons intended for advanced theatre arts classes introduces the elements of set design. Class members examine maquettes and analyze how designers have put together...

Keep the planes from crashing. Pupils work with three airplanes and change their flight paths to keep them at a safe distance from each other. Individuals work through three problems in the third interactive in a set of six with...

Help the local elementary school fix their playground by calculating the amount of sand needed near the swing set. The problem practices setting up proportions and ratios with three different options for solving. You can chose the option...

If you're looking to set your class up for writing effective arguments, try out this idea. While originally created with freedom as a guiding idea, the activity could easily be adapted for other themes. As a class, create a chart of...

Here is a task that gives the graph of the solutions of a system of linear inequalities and asks learners to analyze and write the algebraic form of the systems. By turning the problem around, learners make the connections between...

After years of boiling tension, the presidency of Ronald Regan and the rise of Mikhail Gorbechev paved a new way forward for diplomacy between the United States and the Soviet Union. Using primary source documents, including letters...

Address the literary elements in a piece of writing using these materials. The packet includes plenty of resources, and focuses mainly on theme, character, and point of view, with some materials for setting, symbolism, and author's...

Scholars learn about the Hero's Journey as they read Ray Bradbury's "The Drummer Boy of Shiloh." They analyze the story's structure and narrative techniques. Finally, they write summaries of the text's central idea and use their...

Finding good primary source materials to support any study of history can be a challenge and time-consuming. A set of 11 primary source letters, images, and text excerpts provide young historians with an opportunity to sharpen their...

Though often used in shows of patriotism, Bruce Springsteen's 1985 song "Born in the U.S.A." is critical of America's role in the Vietnam war and its treatment of American veterans. High schoolers analyze the song's lyrics in an activity...

Pupils are transformed into detectives in the case to solve the motive behind the assassination of Julius Caesar. This resource includes eight engaging "exhibits" of unique primary and secondary sources for students to analyze...

Test your pupils' reasoning skills with several activities and a quick mystery to solve. Learners watch and analyze a few video clips that demonstrate reasoning in action, practice deduction with an interactive and collaborative...

Help class members become savvy consumers with a series of activities that has them analyzing marketing strategies, comparing the value of brand name versus off-brand clothing, and considering the advantages and...

Combine algebraic and geometric strategies to find solutions. The task asks learners to find the coordinates of a third vertex of a triangle to create a triangle with a specific area. The project is a set of seven problems that...

Get your classes on their way to extreme couponing! Young mathematicians analyze two different coupon options for the better deal. They use different scenarios to predict and compare the outcomes. 

Tackle some big questions about A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle with a board game project. As learners brainstorm for and complete their board games, they consider what helps and hinders Meg on her journey and why she succeeds in...

Geometric volume calculations are brought into the real world in a quick set of application problems. Learners are asked to help a patient figure out how to drink a prescribed amount of water both at work and at home. This activity...

Do pilots create appropriate spacing between aircraft by traveling a longer or shorter path? An interactive presents two airplanes that violate safety protocols. Pupils must determine how to change the path of one plane to create...

What do you do to change arrival times of airplanes when a different route is not available? The fifth interactive in a series of six presents problems where pupils must find solutions to conflicts of safety rules. They must decide how...

Ever wonder if you can trust the pump that pumps your gas? Budding mathematicians use video evidence to analyze the cost-per-gallon ratio at different intervals for three different pumps. Their goal is to identify the pump that is...

Teams analyze the data they collected during the past six lessons and finalize where they will build a survival cavern. They then present their decisions to the rest of the class and justify their locations. 

Get the scoop with a fun, engaging newspaper project. After analyzing the parts of a newspaper, including the headline, subtitles, and pictures or images, young journalists get to work by writing their own stories in a newspaper article...

Small groups use rubber bands to accelerate an Android device along a track of books. They collect the acceleration data and analyze it in order to determine the device's velocity.