Students research specific answers to questions about air pollution. In this air pollution lesson, students share information to fully understand the causes of air pollution. Students role play individuals from different groups to...

High schoolers explore Kenya. In this Kenya lesson, students research Internet and print sources regarding the political and economic issues the country is facing. High schoolers compare life in Kenya to life in the United States.

Students examine the opposing arguments of the isolationists and internationalists in 1941. In this debate lesson plan, the students are divided into two opposing groups representing a position in a live, in- class debate. After the...

Students participate in a study of short story elements, applying their knowledge and understanding to a selection of short stories.  In this short stories lesson, students read five short story selections, identifying conflict,...

The third in a series of lessons introduced by “A Fence Away From Freedom,” uses the Smithsonian website, “A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the U.S. Constitution” and focuses on the section of the presentation devoted to the...

Learners establish the major events leading up to the election in 1948.  In this U.S. History lesson plan, students research details about Harry S. Truman, then they participate in a class discussion about him so that they are ready...

Students examine, evaluate and understand the concept of conflict, conflict escalation and colflict resolution through a variety of creative interactions.

Students explore schools during the Colonial period. In this American history lesson, students participate in a simulation of school days in Colonial America. Students visit a museum and use the schoolhouse as a setting for their...

Fourth graders read about Harriet Tubman and develop vocabulary lists.  In this Underground Railroad lesson, 4th graders find similarities and differences in primary and secondary sources, create a timeline and recognize important...

Sixth graders research railroad idioms.  In this idiom instructional activity, 6th graders read through a glossary of different railroad idioms and their meanings. They illustrate a chosen idiom.

Fifth graders examine text features and create a PowerPoint presentation. In this text features instructional activity, 5th graders go over Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and text features before they choose one to include in a...

Students analyze film clips in class. In this democracy instructional activity, students identify the differences between civil liberties, democracy and freedom. Students view a video regarding Japanese internment and answer study...

Fifth graders run a school newspaper on a school website and discover how to use various literary forms as they relate to the writing process. For this school newspaper lesson, 5th graders synthesize information from different sources,...

Students examine and compare notions of beauty in cultures around the world and explore the connection between what is deemed 'beautiful' and cultural history. They Develop a "Beauty Around the World" collage representing beauty...

Students participate in role-play activities to explain that emotional and social effects of prejudice discussed in the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Eighth graders focus on the Shakespearian sonnet as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative...

Learners listen to story Joseph Had A Little Overcoat to explore people from another culture and how one item can be used to make other items; students use scraps of fabric and other knickknacks to create pictures or toys.

First graders listen to two books about Rosa Parks. They contribute factual information for a web. They listen to an interview with Rosa Parks on the internet, adding more information to the web. They write and illustrate a book using...

Eighth graders discover the relationship between speed, distance, and time. They calculate speed and represent their data graphically. They, in groups, design a ramp for their matchbox car. The goal is to see who's ramp produces the...

Students describe in words and graphic displays the elevation or depression profile of sections of Mars' Olympus Mons and/or Valles Marineris. They explain how orbiting spacecraft build up global maps one data slice at a time.

Students create a report card for George Bush based on research of key issues. They review political symbols and send a letter to the President explaining why they have given him the grades.