Seventh graders create ecosystems in a jar which they observe over the course of the school year.

Middle schoolers discover the best practical shielding material when dealing with radioactive substances. They draw conclusions based on availability of materials, price, and best shielding properties.

Students view and discuss a selection of paintings from Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and other Surrealist artists. They play a game in which each person in a group writes a sentence and passes it on to the next person without letting...

Students are introduced to prehistoric paintings with the cave art at Lascaux and Altamira. They, in groups, role-play the members of a clan and design appropriate cave paintings for their group.

Fourth graders watch the movie "Contact" and write a review. They discuss in their review how scientists deal with technological problems, the movie's connections to the nature of science and how technology affects science. They share...

Students explore the sense of touch. They listen to and discuss the book, I Can Tell By Touching, observe a demonstration of cold, and create a touch book using candy buttons, pine needles, cotton, burlap, and wax paper.

Students predict how many words out of ten they accurately define. They match the definitions to the correct vocabulary words and make a bar graph showing how many definitions were matched to the correct words. The write their group...

Learners explore how the different parts of a bicycle relate to each other and identify the subsystems. They discover how bicycles work and investigate their history. In groups, students research each of the subsystems and present...

Seventh graders examine and research the political, social, and cultural aspects of China. They conduct Internet research and write and develop a research paper.

Middle schoolers examine the exploration of the New World. They write a descriptive account of the first encounter between Europeans and Native Americans, analyze and label maps, plot Columbus's journey on a map, and write a chapter...

Students view the film "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" and analyze it for stereotypes of mountain and hillbilly communities. They identify and discuss Appalachian values represented in the film and write a report on their observations.

Learners read excerpts from Jon Scieszka's novel, 2095, prior to presenting their vision of the future in a creative project accompanied by written explanation. They design a museum exhibit which shows a scene from a science fiction book...

Students are introduced to the concept of respect. As a class, they read the book together, identify the important facts and predict what might happen next. They complete a worksheet and a test to test their knowledge of the word respect...

Young scholars are introduced to the concept of compassion. As a class, they read a story together about Pandora Puppy's caring circles and identify the main points. They complete a worksheet and take a test to review how compassion is...

Young scholars are introduced to the concepts of patience and anger. As a class, they are read a story about a patience pit and discover how anger can be controlled. They complete a worksheet and take a test to review how to control...

Fourth graders conduct an experiment related to heat sources, and participate in a heat source hunt. They identify sources of heat, then compare the melting rate of ice cubes, illustrating the results in their science journal. Students...

Grouchy? Sad? Here's a great resource that shows kids how music can be used to lift their spirits. Kids collect and chart data on the effects of music on emotions. After analyzing the results of their experiment, they develop...

If you're searching for a way to keep your class informed of current psychology news, this ongoing assignment is both educational and engaging. Class members locate and read a psychology article of interest, write a psychological...

Here's an awesome unit that uses The Cay as the anchor text. The 16-page packet is loaded with teaching ideas, activities, and suggested adjustments.

Learners use a variety of linked sites to research information about student inventions and contests that are available for them. They research an invention they would like to see become available. They communicate their results to their...

Third graders examine photographs as primary source documents. Students are broken into groups and are given photographs of the See Family.

Fifth graders define vocabulary terms, identify the characteristics of a pillbug, and create a dichotomous key. Then they examine the pillbugs and make observations and record these observations. Finally, 5th graders observe specific...