Do you need to learn about someone's past before you can understand that person's behavior? Use an anticipation guide to think about the literary themes of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic before you begin the novel.

Readers of The Autobiography of Malcolm X examine how Haley's word choice and point of view in chapter 5 reveal Malcolm X's attitude toward his behavior as he travels from Lansing to Harlem.

You can often track a character's development based on others' reactions to their words or actions. Using Karen Russell's "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," ninth graders work in a jigsaw activity to analyze how Mirabella's...

Readers of "The Palace Thief" continue examining Ethan Canin’s short story and consider how the narrator's actions develop the central idea of how one's expectations and the expectations of others influence behavior.

Is man's character his fate? Can actions change character? To track the development of the central ideas in Ethan Canin’s short story “The Palace Thief,” groups compare Hundert's actions in the original "Mr. Julius Caesar" competition...

Clear up the misconceptions about autism and individuals on the autism spectrum with an inquiry-based instructional activity. As ninth graders read the first four pages of Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of...

The scientific method keeps you from believing only what you want to believe — it expands your mind. The lesson plan introduces the eight steps in the scientific process and how to design an experiment to biology scholars. Live insects...

To launch a study of civil rights, class members brainstorm rules and expectations of behaviors at home, in school, in the workplace, and in sports. They then look at civil rights cases and examine the rules embedded in these cases. 

What does math have to do with the behavior of the earth and sun? Learn how the movement of celestial bodies has influenced the development of trigonometry. Scholars connects the details in mathematics to their...

Discover the relationship between tangent lines and the tangent function. Class members develop the idea of the tangent function using the unit circle. They create tables of values and explore the domain, range, and end behavior of...

As part of an investigation of transformations of exponential functions, class members use Newton's Law of Cooling as an exponential model to determine temperature based on varying aspects. The resource makes comparisons between...

If you know one, you know them all! Parent functions all handle translations the same. This lesson plan examines the quadratic, absolute value, and square root functions. Pupils discover the similarities in the behavior of the graphs...

There's a strong chance that class members enjoy learning math through engaging games. Scholars analyze games of chance to determine long-term behavior. They learn to calculate expected value to help with this assessment.

One of the key objectives of Europe's Copernicus Earth program is to monitor the temperatures of the oceans and seas on Earth. Young scholars learn the effects of different heat capacities through two experiments. These experiments...

How do we count the fish in the ocean? An engaging lesson models how to estimate fish populations with observational surveys. Class members begin by studying the behavior of fish on the coral reef in the oceans. They...

Explore the behavior of light waves with a lab activity. Scholars build new vocabulary through experimentation and observation. Using different mediums, they model reflection, refraction, transmission, diffusion, and scattering of light.

Between peer pressure, an onslaught of hormones, and brand new responsibilities, the teenage years can be emotionally volatile. Equip young adults with coping mechanisms and a safe place to discuss their feelings with a guided lesson...

Teens don't have the ability to see around all of the corners of their decisions, some of which can affect the rest of their lives. Help them understand the implications of risky sexual behavior, including sexually transmitted diseases...

Psychologists designing experiments to research human behavior must consider weighty ethical concerns. Class members act as members of an institutional review board and examine proposals to determine whether included provisions...

Micro what? Analyze microfluidics as an application in the medical community. A lab investigation highlights the importance of channel design in biotechnology. Learners modify channels and observe the behavior of the flow of the fluids.

Insects threaten the food production industry, and aphids are one of the big players! Analyzing data of aphid populations gives insight into their behaviors. Learners model the population data of an uninhibited population with an...

Two lessons shed light on bullying in hopes to create a bully-free zone in your classroom. The first instructional activity defines bullying and allows scholars to reflect on their behavior. The second instructional activity focuses on...

It's the attack of the invasive species! Young scientists simulate the behavior of an invasive species with a game-like activity. They assume the roles of native plants, invasive plants, and resources and watch the invasive plant takes...

Modeling is a powerful teaching tool. The final installment in a six-part series has pupils complete an activity to model a food web and discover the interconnected relationships in an ecosystem. They then read about changes in migratory...