West Contra Costa Unified School District
Comparing Linear and Quadratic Functions
If a linear function and a quadratic function enter a boxing match, which one would win? Learners first review how to find key features of linear and quadratic functions. Next, they compare key features of pairs of functions.
PHET
Mapping the Field of a Dipole Magnet
High school scientists build their own magnetometer and use it to map the field surrounding a bar magnet. Excellent background resources is included, as well as a diagram of how to build the magnetometer.
US Department of Energy
Electric Avenue: Parallel and Series Circuits
Can you infer the wiring diagram of a series of lights based on their behavior alone? Scholars work with multiple boxes of four lights. They must flip the switch and decide how the lights are wired. By applying their knowledge of...
Kenan Fellows
Unit 1: Introduction to Biotechnology
Biotechnology is big! Introduce the uses of biotechnology to science scholars with a fascinating, fact-filled unit. The first installment in a series of four biotechnology units covers the role biotechnology plays in human and...
Reed Novel Studies
Flora and Ulysses: Novel Study
As Flora from Flora and Ulysses drowns in her misery, she discovers a squirrel with bigger problems than her own. She saves him from the vacuum cleaner and finds out that his brush with death gave him superpowers. Scholars match...
Reed Novel Studies
Old Wolf: Novel Study
Do wolves ever attack humans? An informative novel study for Old Wolf helps pupils conduct research to answer the question. They also decode anagrams, learn about onomatopoeia, and write quatrain poems about themes from the novel.
Teaching Tolerance
Tweeting for Change
Do some good with social media. Secondary scholars participate in a live Twitter chat focusing on social justice issues. The thought-provoking activity allows academics to set up a live chat, create responses, and express their personal...
Teaching Tolerance
Oral Interviews
Show class members how personal history can be using an oral interview project. Even the youngest learners engage with history using a resource to create and execute interviews with members of their community. The activity walks a class...
Teaching Tolerance
Poetry and Storytelling Café
Academics take turns as actors in an engaging poetry cafe. Elementary learners work in small groups to create original poems or stories addressing community issues and read their work in front of a live audience. Scholars also reflect...
Curated OER
Stretching Muscles Properly
Tootsie rolls as a teaching aid? Absolutely. Demonstrate to young athletes the importance of warmups and stretching with an activity that asks them to try and stretch a piece of cold taffy. Class members hold the taffy in their...
Curated OER
Hanukkah Fun: The Dreidel Game
Celebrate Hanukkah with an engaging lesson plan about the history of the dreidel! After reading or listening to a short description of the dreidel's place in the Hanukkah celebration, young learners work on their own dreidels from...
Curated OER
Ancient Greece Podcast
In this writing a podcast lesson plan, 7th graders create a podcast involving Ancient Greece. Students follow a rubric and outline to create their podcast. Students present their podcast to their fellow students.
Curated OER
Area Under A Curve
Calculus students use the derivative and integral to solve problems involving areas. They calculate the area under a curve as they follow a robot off road making different curves along the drive, using Riemann Sums and...
Curated OER
"War of the Worlds": A Broadcast Re-Creation
Why did Orson Welles' 1938 Broadcast of a adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds cause such a panic? To answer this question, class members listen to the original broadcast and research the panic that resulted. They then engage...
Curated OER
Class Book Awards
Learners study the criteria used to select notable book awards, including the Caldecott Medal and the Newbery Medal. Then they develop their own Class Book Awards to bestow upon favorite books in the classroom library. They decide on...
Curated OER
George Orwell's 1984
Eleventh graders engage in a literature study that is concerned with the strengthening of reading comprehension skills while they practice using context clues to arrange meaning to the text. The total assessments for this unit includes...
Curated OER
Running Out of Time: Problematic Situation
What would you take with you if you were traveling on your own to a different place? A different time? Pupils decide individually and then in groups what the main character of Running Out of Time should take on her trip. Coming to a...
Curated OER
Geography: Puerto Rico
Take a trip to Puerto Rico! Learners engage in a web quest, identify Puerto Rico on the map, and gather information related to physical features and cultural factors. Their efforts culminate when they design a brochure comparing the...
Manchester University
Where The Forest Meets The Sea
Join a father and his son as they explore an isolated location off the coast of Australia in the children's book Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker. Engage young learners in reading this fun story with this series of...
Curated OER
The Effects of Counseling on The Potential Drop-out
Tenth graders analyze information from students who have left school before graduation, and utilize the information as a strategy designated to lower the drop-out rate of the at-risk students. They design a rubric, create a web page, and...
Curated OER
Random Scenes
Young scholars perform a group pantomime. For this cooperative efforts lesson, students are placed in small groups and must work as a team to pantomime a scene chosen at random. The young scholars will engage in a reflection and class...
Curated OER
M & M Candy: I Want Green
Eighth graders use colored candy pieces (such as M & M's) to compare mathematical expectations and experimental probability. They pick pieces of candy randomly, and graph their results. This classic lesson never fails to engage...
Intel
Starquest
Almost every ancient culture observed the stars and saw pictures in the patterns. Studying stars allowed them to guide travelers, determine when to plant crops, when to harvest food, and the stories surrounding the images include some of...
Curated OER
State of Being Verbs
Have your class engage in this excellent language arts presentation on verbs. The focus is on the differences between action verbs and state of being verbs. Students choose the state of being verbs on one slide, and move on when they are...