Looking for an assessment that reveals how well readers understand complex text? Check out an assessment module based on "The Gettysburg Address." Pupils are asked to craft an essay that demonstrates their understanding not only of...

Teach young engineers that all machines, no matter how complicated or complex, are made up of just six simple devices with this hands-on physical science lesson plan. Using the included templates, students first create paper models...

Should the work of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences be funded by the government? Middle schoolers weigh in on the status of federal funding for programs that protect the environment with three text passages...

A three-part assessment challenges scholars to read informational texts in order to complete three tasks. Following a brief reading, class members take part in grand conversations, complete charts, and work in small groups to research...

What would a three-dimensional representation of Bloom's revised taxonomy of the cognitive domain look like? Get a glimpse of the complex classification system that is frequently referenced in education to distinguish levels of...

William Shakespeare penned some of the richest and most fascinating works of literature—or did he? Middle schoolers read three brief informative passages and conduct additional research to evaluate the claim that Shakespeare did not...

Everyone has a different point of view, even when it comes to the enormity of the universe. Two separate text passages explain the scope of a galaxy, prompting young readers to write an essay about each author's argument and how the...

Does pride really goeth before the fall, or can it be essential to one's development? Second graders read two of Aesop's fables that refer to pride in their morals, and write a short essay about whether pride is good or bad, based on...

A three-part assessment challenges scholars to write opinion essays covering the topic of the student council. After reading three passages, writers complete a chart, work with peers to complete a mini-research project, answer...

In an ideal world, sentences in a college-level essay should feature a variety of sentence types. In reality, most papers stick to simple and compound sentences, two of the types a handout on sentence patterns discusses. Part of a larger...

Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Cambodia, is the focus of a lesson that asks class members to consider factors that could result in the destruction of these archeological treasures. Pupils listen to a...

How is federal policy established? To gain insight into this complex and often messy process, class members read an article that uses information on attempts to establish public policy in immigration to illustrate the role proposed...

Class members use an applet on the Internet to simulate the spread of a disease. The simulation allows individuals to determine two nodes to vaccinate to limit the number of nodes infected. By running several simulations, scholars...

Technology has undoubtedly improved the lives of people around the world—but has it improved communication? Seventh graders read two informative passages about the rise of texting and emailing versus in-person conversations before...

Middle schoolers complete a writing assessment task to demonstrate their ability to craft a narrative based on a variety of informational texts. They view West of the West's documentary Magic Isle, read three print resources about...

Five out of four people have trouble with fractions! After comparing simplifying fractions to simplifying rational expressions, pupils use the same principles to multiply and divide rational expressions. 

Did the image I drew match the image you saw? By simulating a satellite and a ground station, teams of two transmit data in the form of pixels in order to recreate an image. They use four different levels of brightness, creating slightly...

Learners solve complex radical equations. Solutions vary from one, two, and none, allowing pupils to gain experience solving a variety of problems.

Build confidence in proofs by proving a known property. Pupils explore two approaches to proving base angles of isosceles triangles are congruent: transformations and SAS. They then apply their understanding of the proof to more complex...

How do different religions offer explanations for what happens when we die? Invite your learners to consider the variance and complexity of religious beliefs, and to research and compare/contrast the concept of death and afterlife...

Tired of searching for complex passages suitable for high school level assessments? A challenging examination includes numerous complex text excerpts as well as question items to match them. Learners analyze literary elements, author's...

What is water worth to you? The answer probably depends on many different variables. Learners explore the value of water in space and what it takes to transport the resource to locations in a galaxy far far away. They then consider...

Let me break it down for you! Introduce your class to a way of breaking up a complicated task into its component pieces. Individuals draw a complex figure using JavaScript and then break it down to help determine the...

Teach class members to work with rational expressions using their knowledge of fractions. The lesson plan starts with a warm-up of rational expressions at four different levels of complexity. The different levels continue throughout...