Unit Plan
Curated OER

Understanding the Influence of the Media

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
Critically analyze advertising techniques, such as circular reasoning, bandwagon, testimonial, and repetition, with worksheets that effectively discuss and illustrate how the media aims to influence.
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Probably Probability

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Reinforce the concept of probability with a series of lessons highlighting the idea of likelihood, probability formulas, relative frequency, outcomes, and event predictions. The collection is made up of four lessons offering informative...
Lesson Plan
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MENSA Education & Research Foundation

The Writer’s Toolbox: What You Need to Master the Craft

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Strengthen your high schoolers' writing with a series of steps for writing successfully. With sections on organizing an essay, choosing a topic, crafting a thesis statement, and revising a draft, the lesson encourages your class to...
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Early American Novel: Exploring the Emergence of a Genre

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Need an extra challenge for your best readers? Check out a unit that uses Hannah Webster Foster’s epistolary novel, The Coquette, published in 1797, as the anchor text. The resource is packed with project ideas; each with its...
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Hurricanes

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Learn the ins and outs of hurricanes through a series of lessons answering, "What is a hurricane? How does it travel? How is one formed, measured, and named?" Information is presented through informative text and images, while...
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Quotation Station: Using Quotes in the Classroom

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
An informative list compiled with quotes, authors, and discussion questions, along with 20 out-of-the-box application ideas, make up the collection of lessons geared to spark dialogue and creative thinking about quotations. 
Lesson Plan
MENSA Education & Research Foundation

Book Review Writing: a Guide for Young Reviewers

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Encourage scholars to share their love of reading with informative and engaging book reviews. Here, you'll find a series of guides that walk learners through the review writing process. Included in the collection is information about...
Lesson Plan
University of Minnesota

What's the Deal? Addiction Card Game

For Students 9th - 12th
Addiction is a big deal! Playing a game of cards helps learners understand the concept of addiction. Through their analysis, they examine the potential for addiction and how it varies for each individual.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Environmental Justice in Chester, PA

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Over several days, learners communicate and defend an argument regarding environmental justice issues in Chester, PA. After discussing the issue and viewing a video about the location of several toxic waste facilities in Chester, they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Tensile Testing of Polymeric Films and Sheeting

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Chemistry classes pretend to be consultants to a grocery story trying to decide what polymer to use for therir new non-paper bags. They prepare tensile bars and use them to test plastic film samples for strength and stretchability. Both...
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

What’s the Smallest Thing You Know?

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
Elementary learners listen to a story, then sort objects from largest to smallest at six different stations around the classroom. Adaptable for a large range of age and ability groups. 
Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Scale Models

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
With instructions to adapt the activities for any grade K-12, any teacher can incorporate the concept of scale into the classroom with a simple, yet effective lesson.
Lesson Plan
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Population Connection

The Human-Made Landscape

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...
Activity
Michigan State University

Preferred Destinations

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Pests vacation, too! Here, scholars create travel brochures or posters that inform others about a habitat in which a pest lives. Travel information to be included contains everything from pictures to resort names to slogans...
Unit Plan
Center for Applied Linguistics

Chemical Interactions: Atoms and Bonding

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Watch budding chemists interact with the resource on chemical interactions. In the unit, six lessons provide an overview of basic chemistry, from understanding the development of atomic theory to distinguishing between ionic and covalent...
Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Catapult

For Students 4th - 12th
Studying levers couldn't be more exciting! Learners build their own catapults and test the results as they make adjustments to the fulcrum. They compete against other groups to create the most accurate apparatus.
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Making a Liquid Crystal Thermometer

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Introduce your classes to a fourth state of matter! Liquid crystals have a colorful sheen that changes based on different physical factors. Learners use this information to create a liquid crystal thermometer where the color of the...
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

The Effects of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles on Brine Shrimp: A Toxicology Study

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Who doesn't love gold and silver? Brine shrimp, that's who! Learners conduct an experimental lesson to monitor the toxicity of gold and silver nanoparticles on brine shrimp. They synthesize solutions to expose the brine shrimp to and...
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Lab 1: Nanocatalysts Clean Your Car Emissions

For Teachers 9th - 12th
What a big job for such a small particle. Young scientists learn about the role of nanoparticles in catalytic converters for cars. They conduct an experiment to create alginate-MnO2 catalytic spheres. 
Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

What’s In Your Neighborhood?

For Teachers K - 12th
Chart your way to an understanding of nanoscale. Using a Google map, learners estimate a radius around their location of 1,000 and 1,000,000 meters. Predicting what 1,000,000,000 meters would look like takes them off the charts!...
Activity
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

The Micro and Macro World Around Us

For Teachers K - 12th
Don't let your eyes play tricks on you ... use scale to keep your eyes in check! Young scholars observe images without scale and try to identify the structure. Then, they look at the same image with a scale bar and assess whether their...
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Understanding Wave Motion - Slinky vs. Snaky: Which Spring is Dominant?

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Ride the wave to an understanding of refraction! The first in a series of two inquiry-based lessons challenges learners to create transverse waves with two different types of springs. As their wave hits an object, they observe the change...
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Save the Dinosaurs with Copper and Zinc!

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Create a coat of armor for dinosaur volunteers. Young scientists explore the oxidation-reduction reaction facilitated by electric current. The result of the reaction is a dinosaur coated in copper and zinc, which leads to an...
Lesson Plan
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network

Can Small Pollutants Harm Aquatic Organisms?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Nanoparticles have toxic effects on plant and animal life—even though you can't see them. The second instructional activity of a two-part series has young scientists conduct an experiment that exposes plant and animals to nanoparticle...