Rochester Institute of Technology
Artificial Hearing
Your sense of hearing depends upon tiny hairs deep inside your ear and if you lose these hairs, you lose your hearing. Here, groups explore hearing through the decibel measurement of common sounds. As a class, participants discuss...
University of Colorado
Clay Planets
Why do scientists use models? In the first installment of 22, groups create scale models of our solar system. They then share and discuss their models.
Polar Trec
Ice Cores: Modeling Ice Sheets
Ice cores provide scientists with knowledge of historic melt layers, air temperatures, greenhouse gases, and climate stability. Scholars work in groups to build layers representing snow and ice over thousands of years. Then, groups...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Rhyme, Rhyme or No Rhyme
Rhyming is fun, builds phonemic awareness, and is a tried and true pre-reading skill. This activity helps learners identify words that rhyme. Young scholars listen to a song, locate a rhyming word they hear by clapping then draw a...
Carfleo
Substance Use and Abuse
What is substance abuse? What is the difference between a depressant and a stimulant? Here is a comprehensive unit on drug use, including three lessons with such activities as categorizing and defining key terms, identifying...
Curated OER
Ordinary People: Anticipation Guide
Activate your pupils' thinking before reading chapter five of Ordinary People. Learners decide whether they agree or disagree with six statements and discuss their ideas in small groups. They then read chapter five and determine...
Messenger Education
Design Challenge: How to Keep Gelatin from Melting
The inside of the spacecraft Messenger, which explores Mercury, will experience temperatures from 32 to 91 degrees Fahrenheit. In the final installment of a series of four space-related activities, groups spend time discussing and...
Nuffield Foundation
Measuring Respiratory Quotient
How do scientists prove tiny living things respire? Young scientists build a respirometer and measure respiration rates in living creatures. By comparing the measurements of both plants and animals, they understand the similarities.
Annenberg Foundation
America's History in the Making: Classroom Applications One
Someone finds a time capsule 100 years from now, and it includes your family photo album. What would the photos tell that person about you and your place in history? Scholars investigate how artifacts tell stories. Using photos, maps,...
Newspaper Association of America
By the Numbers: Mathematical Connections in Newspapers for Middle-Grade Students
A cross-curricular resource teaches and reinforces mathematical concepts with several activities that use parts of a newspaper. Scholars use scavenger hunts to find the different ways math is used in the paper along with using data...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonics: Letter-Sound Correspondence, Letter-Sound Bingo
Young scholars build a strong understanding of medial sounds, vowels, and letter sound correspondence while playing Bingo. Taking turns, peers choose a card and say its name and medial sound; all players look for the vowel on their card....
Perkins School for the Blind
Mix and Match
Sorting and matching are skills that have all kinds of applications. Learners with low, but useable vision work to match an object to an object, an object to a picture, and a picture to a picture. This will help them identify objects...
West Contra Costa Unified School District
Writing Exponential Functions Based on Data
Give your class a concrete example of exponential growth and decay using this hands-on activity. These Algebra II lessons allow for the exploration of exponential growth and decay models, as well as the discovery of the patterns of...
Stanford University
Solstice and Equinox Season Model
How can December 21 be the shortest day of the year when all days are 24 hours long? Pupils see how to build a model showing the differences between winter and summer solstices and equinoxes. Using this model, classes can then discuss...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Nature Walk and Ecosystem Introduction
A food web has no organism higher than a tertiary consumer because there wouldn't be enough energy left to sustain them. The fourth installment in a seven-part series begins with a nature walk to get pupils thinking about their...
Illustrative Mathematics
Where Do I Go?
Practice sequencing numbers 1–100 in a card sequencing activity. The hands-on learning makes a short activity flexible and fun. The opportunities are endless and easy to implement.
Schools Linking Network & Lifeworlds Learning
How Do We All Live Together?
Explore the concepts of community and point of view with these activities complementing the children's book Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne. Following a class reading of the story, ask students to either draw a map of the...
National Gallery of Canada
My Treehouse
If you could build your own treehouse, what would it look like? Using a piece of contemporary art as inspiration, learners draw their own treehouses and add geometric and organic shapes. The activity touches on Visual Thinking Strategies...
University of Minnesota
Neurotransmission Model
Don't lose your marbles — you'll need them for a instructional activity on neurotransmission. Young scholars build a neurotransmission model using marbles, beads, rubber bands, string, and other elements. After studying specific...
BioEd Online
Arm Model
Arm your young scientists with knowledge about anatomy as they build their own model of the elbow joint. Help them get a firm grasp on how muscles and bones interact to allow movement as they try different positions for the muscles on...
Reed Novel Studies
Of Mice and Men: Novel Study
Why is personification such a popular literary device for many authors? Learners answer the question as they engage in activities from the novel study for the classic Of Mice and Men. They also scan the novel to find examples of the...
Facing History and Ourselves
Making Meaning of Community
In the post-pandemic classroom, it's more important than ever to begin the school year by building a strong sense of trust and community. Using the Make Meaning and Big Paper teaching techniques, groups develop a definition of community...
ESL Kid Stuff
Colors
You can sing a rainbow with a fun set of color-themed activities. Kids learn a song, match colors to objects, and jump up and down as they practice their color recognition.
American Chemical Society
The Ups and Downs of Thermometers
What has a thermometer earned that your pupils haven't? A degree! After reviewing the previous lessons about molecules and degrees, scholars observe how thermometers work before building their own. The module includes a activity sheet.