DocsTeach
Senators' Pay in the First Congress
Senators are public servants but they do get paychecks. The activity focuses on historical analysis and a treasury document from the first Congress. Scholars read the document, answer questions, and participate in group discussion to...
DocsTeach
Analyzing a Letter from Jackie Robinson: "Fair Play and Justice"
Jackie Robinson was more than a baseball legend; he was an activist, too. An interesting resource explores Robinson's time in the military using primary sources. Scholars examine the racially inspired event that led to a court martial...
Center for History Education
Colonial Tea Parties
Most people know of the Boston Tea Party, but it was only one of similar protests throughout the colonies. Using a case study from Maryland, learners explore primary sources, including images and newspaper accounts of similar tea...
Center for History Education
The Non-Importation Movement
Boycott for free trade! An eye-opening lesson explores the non-importation movement created by American colonists in response to the Stamp and Sugar Acts. Scholars specifically look at the impact the boycott had on colonial women who had...
Center for History Education
Who Fired the Shot Heard Round the World?
Take a closer look. Young academics become detectives in an engaging lesson on the American Revolution. Scholars work in groups to analyze documents to uncover whether the American colonists or British soldiers fired the first shot at...
DocsTeach
Prohibition and Its Consequences
Organized crime and speakeasies ... just another day during Prohibition. An intriguing activity explores the world of Prohibition and its consequences on life in the United States. Scholars analyze primary sources and place them on a...
DocsTeach
Analyzing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (Original Draft Resolution)
Breaking news, President Johnson addresses the nation! Scholars watch a video of President Johnson's address to Congress regarding the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The activity focuses on the motivation behind the resolution and the...
NASA
Marsbound! Mission to the Red Planet
Changing one aspect of a mission impacts all the others. Learners consider a list of criteria as they develop their own science questions related to Mars and design a solution while considering all the important systems: computer,...
BioEd Online
The Skeleton
Don't be chicken to try a lesson plan that compares the anatomy of birds to humans. Read the background information so you don't have to wing it when it comes to the anatomy of a chicken. Prepare cooked chicken bones by soaking them in a...
Polar Trec
Ice Cores: Modeling Ice Sheets
Ice cores provide scientists with knowledge of historic melt layers, air temperatures, greenhouse gases, and climate stability. Scholars work in groups to build layers representing snow and ice over thousands of years. Then, groups...
Curated OER
An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Students share their ideas about doctors and relate to their classmates. Then they refer to their prior knowledge and information discussed to explain and support their ideas and prepare for a visit with a doctor by charting ideas,...
Curated OER
More than One Way of Knowing
Students compare the obeservations of traditional people with the oberservations of Western science. They validate Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) through comparison and the identification of...
Curated OER
A to Z Quiz
In this alphabet worksheet, 5th graders answer 26 general knowledge questions in which the answers begin with each letter of the alphabet, answers included.
Curated OER
Infusing Equity by Gender into the Classroom: A Handbook of Classroom Practices--See What We've Done
Students research a leader or achiever, prepare a poster, and participate in a panel discussion and role play. In this contributions by people of diverse backgrounds lesson, students choose a leader and find three resources about...
Curated OER
Respect For Oneself And Others
Students investigate how to give respect to themselves and others. They consider how respect is part of how we treat others and consider personal boundaries. Students discuss how one should handle the situation of being asked to...
Curated OER
How Resourceful Are You?
Students investigate the concept of resources. They differentiate between natural, human, and capital resources. Prior to the lesson the students need to build background knowledge of goods, services, needs, and wants. They create a...
Curated OER
Match The Graph Circles
High Schoolers engage in a study of circles and graphs that are related with the focus upon finding the center and radius. The instructional activity includes the suggestion of giving homework using circle problems before this one to...
Curated OER
Knowing North: Understanding the Relationship Between Time and The Sun
Students determine how to find North using a watch and their shadow. In this finding North lesson plan, students go outside on a sunny day and work with their shadow and a wrist watch to find out which direction that North is. They...
Curated OER
Make and Revise Predictions
Fifth graders make and revise predictions based on the chapters they have read in The Witch of Blackbird Pond. For this predictions lesson plan, 5th graders predict and then revise their predictions based on their background knowledge...
Curated OER
Let's Talk About Schema
Students make connections with texts they read and with their own schema. In this schema lesson plan, students learn that schema is background knowledge and that by connecting it to text, they can understand and relate to it better.
Curated OER
Testing Water for Hardness Using Soap Bubbles K-12 Experiments & Background Information
Students examine water and what causes it to become hard. In this water instructional activity students use the soap test and determine the mineral content and hardness of a sample of water.
Curated OER
Ho'opiha - Growing in Knowledge: Terrarium Project
Students explore environmental protection by conducting a research experiment in class. In this botany lesson plan, students identify the necessities for growing a plant indoors and create a small terrarium for their plant. Students...
Curated OER
Editorial Writing
Use your class's knowledge of pollution and water treatment to write an editorial to town citizens. They apply prior knowledge in order to compose a letter intended for newspaper publication, focusing on writing to an appropriate audience.
Curated OER
Living it up with plants
Have kids in grades K-2 discuss how they know a tree is alive. The activity provides simplistic background information and an observation check list. They check off the ways that they can tell an oak tree is a living thing. Note: The...