Practical Action
Climate Change - Who's In Control?
How can both individuals and governments respond to climate change and take responsibility to reduce its effects on our environment? Here you will find three lessons filled with discussion, debate, and role-playing...
Reading Through History
The Cold War: The Space Race
What do the Cold War and the Space Race have in common? Learners search for that answer and many more, helping them to build their knowledge of historical global politics and tensions between nations. Following the reading, they answer...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Positive Self Talk
Mirror, mirror. Hook sophomores into the benefits of positive self-talk with a lesson that asks them to reflect on the roles they play at home, at school, and in their communities. Class members fill out a “Looking At Me In My...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Assessing Self-Concept
A "My Self-Concept Report Card" worksheet launches a lesson plan about the importance of positive self-talk. After completing the worksheet, individuals make a list of the things they would do to improve or maintain a positive self-concept.
Missouri Department of Elementary
So Much to Do, So Little Time: How Do I Tie All of the Loose Ends Together?
How do people manage to get everything done when there are so few hours in a day? Scholars explore the question as they participate in small group discussions about time management. They construct a daily schedule and complete a...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Getting Caught in the Web
When it comes to teamwork, it's best not to drop the ball. Pupils stand in a circle, tossing around a ball of yarn to one another to create a web. Next, they use teamwork skills to keep a soccer ball from falling off the web before...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Goldilocks Revisited
After a read-aloud of the story Goldielocks and the Three Bears, scholars gather into small groups to answer a series of questions. Peers examine the idea of smart decisions and identify three feelings of characters alongside three...
US Institute of Peace
Responding to Conflict: Mediation
What happens when two parties can't come to agreement? Scholars explore the role of a mediator through part 10 of a 15-part series of peacebuilding lessons. Through individual work and role play, pupils brainstorm solutions until they...
Missouri Department of Elementary
What Color is Your Apple?
Build your classroom community with an activity that uses apples to examine oneself and their classmates. Participants draw four large apples on blank paper then exchange them within a small group. Group members write a character trait...
Earth Day Network
Healthy Earth, Sick Earth
Earth is sick and needs our help! Read the children's book Planet Earth Gets Well to explain the various problems facing the planet, discussing what young conservationists can do to heal the planet along the way. A great Earth...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Are You Balanced?
Balance scales create a strong visual of how an individual prioritizes one's self alongside their commitments to the community, school, and home. Scholars complete a graphic organizer then discuss their findings with their peers. A...
Global Oneness Project
Witnessing Icebergs
Camille Seaman's photoessay, "Witnessing Icebergs" documents just a tip of the problem of climate change through images of icebergs in both the Arctic and Antarctic polar regions. After viewing the haunting images, viewers respond...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Think Positive!
Following an attention-grabbing read-aloud, scholars brainstorm ways they can change negative thoughts into positive thoughts. Small groups plan and perform a skit that showcases one of the new ideas to uplift one's feelings....
Missouri Department of Elementary
Keep Finding the Positive
Group members take on roles to create a positive classroom community. Learners perform their role—leader, recorder, presenter, timekeeper, encourager, and collector—in preparation for a formal presentation of their positive thinking...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for Handmaid's Tale
Great literature discussions are a consequence of carefully crafted questions, interpretative questions that permit more than one response, and responses supported by specific evidence from the text. The discussion questions in a guide...
Council for Economic Education
The Role of Government: The Federal Government and Fiscal Policy
Give learners a crash course in balancing the books on the United States federal government level with an economics and government resource. Class members engage in a warm-up discussion and brainstorming session before answering...
Curated OER
Africa: Introduction, Geography and Mapping
Students study the geography of Africa through the use of maps. They locate, distinguish, and describe the relationships among varying regional and global patterns of geographic phenomena such as landforms, climate, and natural resources.
Curated OER
Identifying Issues facing Africa
Students identify 5 issues facing Africa as a class The work in teams to create a joint project, conduct independent research into Africa, and present these ideas in a persuasive argument. The work in their groups in class to plan their...
Curated OER
The Manhattan Project
Students discover the technological and scientific requirements for making the atomic bomb, the immediate effects of an atomic bomb, and the social and political changes that have resulted from the Manhattan Project.
BBC
Local Democracy
Expanding our learners' understanding of government at a local level is a great way to build an understanding of government at a global level. Start the understanding by using any of these fun teaching ideas. Learners engage in several...
Curated OER
Civic Engagement for Us?
Students identify the different forms of civic engagement. They identify their responsibilities at the different levels of government. They also analyze young leaders running for office.
Curated OER
Protests, Revolutions, and Democratic Change
Students examine uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. For this global issues lesson, students view video clips, conduct group research, and present their findings in group presentations about the unrest in Algeria, Bahrain,...
Curated OER
Abuse and Neglect: United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child
Learners analyze the consequences of inadequate or inappropriate care giving (e.g., the effects of neglect or abuse). They analyze the influences that have impact on growth and development during adolescence. Pupils analyze services...
Curated OER
The World in Our Food
Students explore the history of ingredients in one of the recipes they prepare in class. They examine where each ingredient is produced and under what conditions. In addition, they brainstorm alternatives that are environmentally...