The characters in Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori are complex and vivid. Compare their characteristics with a biopoem, which prompts learners to complete a format with adjectives, relationships, and additional details that describe...

The characters in Lois Lowry's The Giver are rich and complex as they weave their way through the plot. Examine the character traits of one chosen person with a biopoem, which enables learners to follow a poetic format in writing a...

Designed for teachers, this 12-page packet uses passages from Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" to model how to design activities that encourage close reading of complex text.

Conditional probability can be a confusing concept. A straightforward lesson provides reasonable examples of conditional probability, and models the most effective ways to reinforce the more complex parts of the lesson.

Now that the practice is over, see if young mathematicians can utilize their new skills on finding common denominators and adding fractions. The assessment contains one map challenge and follows with skills practice. 

Historically, Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis has been difficult for many readers to grasp. From the difficult translation issues to the complex plot and themes, the novel's message and story can be lost when learners...

As an introduction to Steiner Trees, class members are challenged to find the shortest paths to connect multiple points. The teacher introduces the problem by showing how to connect three points. Groups then go outside and construct a...

Abracadabra! Provide your class with the tools to perform a chemical "magic show" as they predict the charges of various ions, determine ionic compound formulas, and make observations to determine when a chemical reaction between...

Scaling needs to be picture perfect. Pupils use proportional reasoning to find the missing dimension of a photo. Class members determine the sizes of paper needed for two configurations of pictures in the short assessment task.

Two blooms of phytoplankton, instead of just one, now occur in the Arctic due to declining sea ice, which will have widespread effects on the marine life and climate. In small groups, participants build an Arctic food web with given...

Analyze functions by decomposing complex functions and composing simple functions. Through a detailed lesson plan, pupils learn the vocabulary and notation related to the composition of functions. Practice includes both evaluating and...

Benjamin Franklin identified 13 virtues that he felt would strengthen his character if he could focus on each one. A thorough lesson explores high schoolers' personal values in the context of their lives, and compels them to strive for...

Model the transfer of energy during a typical 24-hour period. Young scholars use a game-like approach to learning the patterns of heat transfer through the day and night. Groups of four exchange different tokens as the energy...

Writing an equation of a line is as easy as m and b. A lesson presentation gives individuals different strategies for writing equations of lines. Some items provide a slope and a point while others provide two points. Whatever the given,...

Make the cookies healthy. The assessment task asks pupils to determine the number of cookies they could make based on a given amount of ingredients. Given two sugar substitutes, learners determine which substitute would be better and...

Obviously, four is the perfect number when you're playing Four Square. Scholars first use multiplication and division to solve a set of problems on the number of balls needed, the number of games, and the number of players required for a...

Here's an assessment task that's better than watching a show. Young mathematicians solve word problems involving multiplication and division with equal groups. They must find the total number of attendees on a trip to a theater based on...

Aim high with a task on window washers. An assessment task challenges learners to determine the number of windows two people wash. They do this using a given number of window rows on each side of a building. In addition, they find the...

Scholars become architects in an engaging unit on building structures. The Reading Adventure Pack features Roberto: The Insect Architect by Nina Laden and Construction Zone with photographs by Richard Sobol and text by Cheryl Willis...

A Reading Adventure pack explores the busy life of bees. After reading a fiction and nonfiction text, scholars complete three hands-on activities. Participants invent a robot that can do the work of bees, cheers to hardworking bees with...

Why don't we just capture carbon dioxide in the air and store it somewhere else? A hands-on lesson allows scholars to explore a complex concept. First, they will create a carbonated beverage, and then they will determine...

One of the most diverse environments on Earth is the ocean. Young scientists explore the living things found in the ocean during an exciting seven-lesson unit. Their study includes organisms from plankton to invertebrates...

Show your class how people calculated complex math problems in the old days. Scholars take a trip back to the days without calculators in the 15th installment of a 35-part module. They use logarithms to determine products of numbers and...

Combine vectors and matrices to describe transformations in space. Class members create visual representations of the addition of ordered pairs to discover the resulting parallelogram. They also examine the graphical representation...