Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...

Discuss as a class some problems that you would like to see changed in your school or community, and then take action! After your young citizens determine the appropriate steps they should take to accomplish their objectives, they will...

Bring bullying out into the open with an involved lesson surrounding the animated version of Shane Koyczan's spoken word poem "To This Day." Class members discuss images related to bullying and watch the video without sound. They write a...

What are the warning signs of depression? What contributes to and maintains this disorder? Learners answer several short-answer questions regarding depression using a well-designed student packet. The lesson concludes by...

Here is a quick worksheet on King David, the second king of Israel. It discusses his famous contest with the Philistine warrior Goliath and is followed by a few reading comprehension questions.

Young geographers follow Dr. Martin Luther King's journey during the civil rights movement by identifying major events on a map of the eastern United States, such as his birth in Atlanta, Georgia and his famous...

Harry Potter, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, To Kill a Mockingbird. Kids view a slide show and then discuss the seven banned books featured in the presentation and the reasons why the books may have been banned.

Does money seem to slip through your middle schoolers' fingers? Encourage them to examine spending, saving, and budgeting habits with a unit on consumer skills and money management. Young spenders study the waste that occurs with school...

Rather than waiting for the world to change, encourage your class members to become agents of change with a project that asks groups to select an issue found in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America....

Visual and print propaganda are featured in a lesson plan that asks readers of A Separate Peace to examine the techniques used in propaganda from World War I, World War II, presidential elections, and in the novel.

Take a trip to the turn of the twentieth century with a resource about industrialism in America. With primary source documents and focus questions, learners think about the ways that government groups and organizations paved the way...

What is the purpose of immigration legislation? How has this legislation evolved over the years? What are the factors that caused these changes? Class members research immigration legislation to determine whose rights the laws are...

An inaugural address represents the first moments of a new beginning. Using John F. Kennedy's speech as a model for guided practice, groups examine the ingredients of an inaugural address. Individuals then repeat the analysis...

By making the following changes to the roads, we can prevent several accidents. A multiple-day lesson prompts pupils to investigate accidents in a small town. Pairs develop a proposal on what to do to help reduce the number of...

"Statistics are no substitute for judgment" - Henry Clay. Young mathematicians use provided statistics from a soda taste test to explain why conclusions are faulty. They devise a new test that would be more appropriate than the one given.

How do two administrations work together to craft a seamless transition of power? Learn more about personnel management, policy implementation, and the role of an outgoing president with a transition plan designed for the 2012...

Inspire scholars to do their part for planet Earth with a read-aloud of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, and variety of activities designed to boost the environmental activist in us all. Activities include writing poems about the Earth,...

Uncover the renewable energy potential in your region. The activity outlines an approach to research current practices and trends. Learners conduct surveys to assess the attitudes of the local population and prepare a paper summarizing...

Young historians investigate how voting patterns have changed by comparing the outcome of the 1960 election to the outcome of the recent election. A creative final assessment has participants making a news show wherein they provide...

Challenge your classes to design and market a new product. Collaborative groups use geometry skills to create packaging for their products. Finally, they plan a marketing strategy to present to a marketing specialist.

What do you do if someone you like wants you to do something you don't want to do? A series of activities, including discussion, videos, role-play, and poster projects, demonstrate the most effective ways to withstand peer pressure online.

To middle schoolers, there's nothing worse than being excluded from a peer group. Developing important self-esteem skills can not only get them through awkward adolescent times, it can carry them through the rest of their lives as...

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai is an inspirational tale of heroism through adversity. Focus on the key details of the book with a quick review...

Introduce class members to Gandhi's non-violent, non-cooperative ideas with Richard Attenborough's 1982 bio-epic. The film traces the experiences that gave shape to Gandhi's ideas and the actions that eventually lead to the end of...