How do scientists provide evidence to support the theories they put forth? What clues do they put together to create these theories? After watching West of the West's documentary Island Rotation class members engage in a series of...

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take your class on an underwater adventure. The final installment in a seven-part series involving salt and freshwater bodies takes junior oceanographers below the surface in...

Don't cry over broken pottery. A cross-curricular instructional activity challenges pupils to consider how to restore ancient pottery. Using a computer program and their knowledge of transformations, they come up with a way to recreate...

Let imaginations run wild as participants design animal pens. A performance task challenges young mathematicians to determine the perimeter or a missing side length of different animal pens. They then design pens that meet given...

An interesting resource addresses the role of youth in civic participation and community events. It also explains the role of the justice system in creating boundaries and how citizens play a part in the judicial process.  Pupils...

"Fundamentals," the first lesson in a series of eight, introduces the basic concepts and strategies covered in a series of resources designed to teach high schoolers critical thinking skills. The worksheets and activities in this first...

Class members discover what it means to publish their works. Working on a computer, young writers use an online dictionary to edit their spellings and conventions based on the information added to the rubric. From here, and most of the...

How do graphic designers project three-dimensional images onto two-dimensional spaces? Scholars connect their learning of matrix transformations to graphic design. They understand how to apply matrix transformations to make...

Kindergartners practice the important skill of placing things in their correct categories. They must discern between items of clothing and items of food. The use of the Inspiration 7 educational software is effectively used in this...

The nitrogen cycle is the focus of a well-designed science lesson. In it, learners see that plants and animals produce waste products and decompose after death. Many of the waste products include nitrogen which is absobed by other...

The attitudes of European settlers toward the American wilderness, as reflected in art and literature, is the focus of this resource packet designed for teachers. Included in the unit overview you will find lists or paintings and...

Students complete a character study using a database to compile information from a novel. They design a five slide presentation highlighting the character's reaction to different situations in the book. They write an acrostic poem using...

Students recognize epoxy glue formation as two part polymerization (usually the curing agents act as co-monomers). They monitor the reaction by the changes in viscosity of the reacting mass, the temperature rise and fall, and the...

Before your young scholars reached your morning class to learn about persuasive writing, they probably saw dozens of examples of persuasive communication in the form of advertisements. A short, introductory lesson plan inspires class...

Students, in cooperative groups, design and create a wildflower garden for the community. They write letters to property owners requesting use of their land and then write invitations to their parents and to local, state, and federal...

Students explore contemporary lifestyles, cultures, traditions are influenced by the contributions of the German settlers of that region. They research these influences and design a brochure to entice potential immigrants to the Upper...

Students examine the art of storytelling. In groups, they write their own African folktales, design costumes, props and scenery, and videotape folktale presented in dramatic form.

Pupils complete a series of activities to discover life in ancient Egypt. They create want ads for pyramid workers, design vocabulary flash cards and dictionaries, and research famous Egyptians. They also research the "Curse of the...

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...

This five-page exam was designed for a biochemistry and organic chemistry course. It covers the molecular geometry and properties of organic comounds. Test takers identify compounds, functional groups, and isomers. They draw Lewis...

Little athletes put their minds and bodies to work to invent new fitness games for class! Using information they gather from informational texts, youngsters design games that include motor skills, materials, rules, and...

Geometers explore the concept of tessellations. They use a tessellation applet to manipulate shapes and design their own tessellation using the applet.

Students write their own fables. In this writing fables activity, students use handheld computers to write a fable. The class designs a spreadsheet to organize common elements of fables. Students also edit each others' work.

Improve your young poets' descriptive writing with this lesson plan on personification. A SMART board and PowerPoint presentation guide your class through the process of identifying human qualities attributed to various non-human...