Let nature guide your engineering designs. By taking apart a flower, pupils learn about reverse engineering. They use the results to brainstorm designs for new products or ideas. This is the seventh installment of a nine-part Life...

Follow in Jules Verne's footsteps and take a journey to the center of the earth! Middle schoolers work together to design a trip inside the earth using their knowledge from the previous lessons in the unit.

Tropical fish are a great subject for any art project, they are colorful, interesting, and can go along with under water themed stories read in class, learner written narratives, or Marine Biology units. This set of instructions will...

Where did that formula come from? Lead pupils on a journey through completing the square to discover the creation of the quadratic formula. Individuals use the quadratic formula to solve quadratic equations and compare the method to...

When your parents say that your room's a pig sty, tell them about biomimicry. The sixth installment of a nine-part Life Science unit has scholars research the shelters used by animals in the natural world, like turtle shells. Using the...

Students identify and solve problems as they modify the design of an everyday household item. They gather and analyze information and work in collaborative teams to create a design plan for a new product.

What a scam! Middle and high schoolers pose as journalists exposing consumer fraud. In this lesson, they write an article for a magazine using data collected during previous investigations (prior lessons) to defend their findings that a...

Introduce your classes to a new world of mathematics. Pupils learn to call trigonometric ratios by their given names: sine, cosine, and tangent. They find ratios and use known ratios to discover missing sides of similar...

The memoir, Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, is the focus of a unit designed for fourth graders. Scholars begin each lesson with a warm-up, then listen to a read-aloud of a section of the book. Pupils complete word work,...

There is no better way to learn about a subject than with a hands on project. Middle schoolers design and create a product that meets the needs of fictitious clients. They view a PowerPoint, consider how the Western marketing style is...

"This looks like an owl!" Kids get a chance to create all sorts of things by arranging various shapes, painting them, and gluing them together. A great way to encourage creativity and spontaneity.

While this is considered optional within the unit it is designed for, pupils would benefit from the listed activities. Working on writing and revising a paragraph about librarians who travel to isolated areas, class members can add some...

Bridging art and math can be as easy as making tessellations. The art, context, and life of M.C. Escher is explained to the class, as is the concept of tessellations. After a bit of art history, pupils get out the ruler, tape, and...

Introduce your class to various reptiles and amphibians. They will meet and identify a representative from each of the four major reptile families, then learn about and discuss reptile characteristics. Next, they will identify and...

Explore the beauty of Chinese Calligraphy. This well-developed lesson will take your class on a journey through the history of Calligraphy, engage them in technique and style, then challenge them by having them create new strokes to...

High schoolers investigate the environment by designing a group project.  In this ecology lesson, students identify the man made threats to the Amazon while reading environmentally conscience vocabulary terms.  High schoolers...

Continue with creating documentaries with the fourth lesson in a series. After explaining the concept of preproduction, send groups off to make some decisions about their films. Groups can use the handout and the four provided questions...

Explore linear and square dimensions by comparing areas of similar figures. A creative set of five activities designed for elementary through high school classes asks young scholars to compare areas of specific polygons. The first two...

Introduce cradle-to-cradle design thinking. Scholars first discuss the importance of natural laws and rights. They then use a variety of online and print resources to research eco-efficiency and cradle-to-cradle design.

Is bigger really better? By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to apply formulas for computing the diameter of tires and wheel assemblies. Begin by showing a slide presentation that will review definitions for radius and...

Teach solving for unknowns through a problem-solving approach. The grouping of five lessons progresses from finding an unknown through simple reasoning to solving simultaneous equations involving three and four variables. Each lesson...

Teach statistics by analyzing raisins. A thorough activity provides lesson resources for five levels to include all grades. Younger pupils work on counting and estimation, mid-level learners build on their understanding of the measures...

Now you'll never have trouble cutting a cake evenly again. Here is a set of five problems all about partitioning shapes into a given number of pieces and identifying the fractional amount of each piece. As learners progress through the...

Thinking of assigning a research paper? Get writers off on the right foot with a instructional activity that introduces the BEAM research model. Writers brainstorm the background of their topic, explicate the aspects of their topic,...