Sew up pupil interest with an engaging, hands-on instructional activity. Learners first design a sports bag given constraints on the dimensions of fabric. They then evaluate provided sample responses to identify strengths and weaknesses...

After determining the volume of various drinking glasses , class members evaluate sample responses to the same task to identify errors in reasoning.

Learners step up to the plate as they first complete an assessment task using linear equations to determine the best company from which to buy baseball jerseys. They then evaluate provided sample responses identifying strengths and...

After completing a task involving examining the ratio of areas of triangles and circles in a given figure, scholars examine sample responses to identify other strategies they could use to solve the problem.

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...

What kind of animals live on an ice planet like Hoth? How would the habitat on Tatooine allow different organisms to thrive? Connect social studies, science, and Star Wars in one engaging activity that focuses on the ecosystems...

Teach your class to think outside the box. Scholars use the concept of equality to solve a problem in the assessment task. They determine how to use a scale to identify the one box out of a set of nine boxes that is heavier than the others.

All soil is not created equal! A lab activity asks learners to collect and analyze soil. Specific calculations determine the amount of sand, silt, and clay in a sample and allow individuals to identify the soil texture. 

Begin a unit on weather and climate change by assessing prior knowledge of the topic. Learners respond to a survey with questions that ask what they think causes climate change, the effects of climate change, and if it is important...

Processed foods use inorganic compounds for flavoring and preservation. This take-home laboratory challenges scholars to find 20 different compounds identified on the labels of foods to list on their data collection sheet. The activity...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Help learners find ways to become more efficient energy consumers. To start, individuals research how different countries address energy efficiency and then analyze their own carbon footprint. They use their research to identify ways to...

Your high schoolers will examine the community in which they live and discuss with the class. Using the Internet, they identify the importance of African-American art and how it relates to the African-American culture. Individually, they...

Students identify different climate regions and local weather patterns.  In this cloud coverage lesson students use NASA satellite data and import it into Excel. 

Students identify and analyze land use changes over time with historical aerial photographs. They classify different land use into categories.

Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to the primary landforms of Illinois and discover how they were created. Landform cards are made for each pupil. They use the twenty-questions format until they have identified each one. Then,...

Art and music have been vehicles for statements of civil unrest for hundreds of years. Upper graders critically analyze several pop songs or music movements from the 1980s that exemplify politically charged motives. They...

Students examine the topic of subsistence farming. They research the future of subsistence agriculture, identify the types and locations of subsistence agriculture, and write about subsistence farming in regards to developing nations and...

Learners categorize studenT toys by intelligence types. They review toy safety and function and identify the appropriate play age of various toys. They read and evaluate studenT books and write one of their own.

Assign groups of middle school oceanographers to research one of the following underwater robots; ABE, Herculues, ROPOS, RCV-150, Tiburon, or general purpose ROVs. An included handout guides them through information to be gathered. Each...

Students participate in a three-part lab in which they investigate plant pigments. Part I is designed to teach basic laboratory techniques of column chromatography, in Part II students design an experiment to separate the components of a...

Students participate in an activity that replicates the creation of sea floor bathymetry by taking a simplified form of soundings in the classroom. They discuss sea floor mapping technologies, sonar, soundings, and remote sensing,...

Young scholars conduct research on a German anti-Nazi group named "Die Weisse Rose", the White Rose, that eventually lost their lives for their resistance to Nazi rule. They view films, access the Internet, prepare responsive narratives...

Step into the hopeful and tragic world of Anne Frank with this lesson on reading in context. After complete a variety of activities related to the first two scenes of The Diary of Anne Frank, eighth graders participate in a read...