Help your class understand Autism. They conduct research into how the brain is effected by the disorder of autism. Then they write a letter to the Center For Disease Control about their findings and forward some of the new research to them.

A reading of Mark Twain’s The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County not only offers pupils an opportunity to practice their listening skills but also provides them with examples of dialectic speech. This is the gol’derndest lesson...

Learners explore the concept of fairness. In this fairness lesson, students play four probability games. Learners determine who has the best chance of winning each of the four games. Students discuss which games gave an unfair advantage.

  Students create their own butterfly garden and follow a participation plan to ensure that everyone will have a hand in the garden.  In this gardening lesson, 5th graders log their progress with their garden by taking photos,...

Young scholars design their own playground equipment. In this design instructional activity, students take pictures of equipment they like and make a class pictograph of their favorite ones. They investigate the design, research...

Women's lifestyles before the Civil War made a huge impact as a point of causation. Give middle schoolers the opportunity to view firsthand the lives of women before the Civil War. They analyze primary source documents, view photographs,...

Examine parts of an expression in this algebra lesson. Ninth graders identify the properties of the coefficient and their behavior to the graph. They graph the equation on a TI to see their results.

Young consumers explore the concept of biotechnology as it pertains to the foods they eat, economics, and agriculture. They watch several videos, explore a website, complete worksheets, and engage in class discussion. Son they'll know...

Learners investigate why theoretical probability doesn't always match reality. The activity involves using Python 2.7 (or Sage) to set up a Bernoulli Trial. It also involves setting up a spreadsheet to simulate the Birthday Paradox....

Japanese tea gatherings are the inspiration for a great lesson. Learners are provided with an image of a tea caddy made for thick tea and asked to describe what they notice and what that might mean. This leads into a larger lesson about...

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a great story to share with your class, and this lesson focuses on just that story! The eighth in a fourteen-lesson series on short stories, the plan has learners study some vocabulary, read the...

How is a movie theater like a desert biome? Compare systems to ecosystems with a set of activities that focuses on accessing multiple intelligences and building upon knowledge. As learners discuss the ways elements of an ecosystem depend...

Explore the Earth's different ecosystems through four lessons, an assessment, and extension activities. Lessons include informative text and step-by-step instructions to apply knowledge in interactive, and thought provoking ways; such as...

After reviewing the structure and powers of the three branches of the US government, groups investigate a problem and research what is being done to address this criticism.

After completing an assessment task where they express numbers as the difference of squares (i.e., 9 = 5^2 – 4^2), class members note any patterns that they see in the problems.

Scholars first complete an assessment task on writing linear equations to model and solve a problem on a running race. They then take part in a card matching activity where they match equations and graphs of lines to diagrams of fluid...

Scholars identify and continue the numerical pattern for the number of wheels on a train. Using the established pattern and its inverse, they determine whether a number of wheels is possible. Pupils finish...

Should driver's licenses be granted to unauthorized immigrants? That is the question class members grapple with in a lesson plan that asks them to first read a fact sheet that details the arguments for and against...

Campaign propaganda has evolved from 1952 through the presidential election of 2008. A social studies activity prompts class members to analyze the devices used in ads and political cartoons, noting strategies they believe would work to...

Trigonometry, art, and Valentine's Day come together in a creative activity about parametric equations. Learners calculate several equations before graphing them either by hand, on a graphic calculator, or Excel spreadsheet to curve...

Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not...

Turn up the heat! Young mathematicians develop models to represent different climates and collect temperature data. They analyze the data with regression and residual applications. Using that information, they make conclusions about...

You are what you eat, as they say! Are you more starch or more protein? Young scholars use their knowledge of each component to test different foods for their content. Using multiple indicators, individuals describe the protein and...

How effective are cells at repairing UV damage? An inquiry-based lesson has learners experiment with organism by exposing them to various levels of UV light and then examining their DNA after a period of time. Pupils test different...