Middle schoolers explain that while cities have unattractive features, the density of human life enables energy efficiency, mass transit, recycling, and other benefits which are difficult or impossible in rural areas. This is the fifth...

Learners will work together in groups to gather information about careers in oceanography. They discover the need to have a diverse group of people on a team and then share their information with the class. Web links and materials are...

Studying levers couldn't be more exciting! Learners build their own catapults and test the results as they make adjustments to the fulcrum. They compete against other groups to create the most accurate apparatus.

Bring a time machine into your classroom with this writing instructional activity, in which young writers project themselves back in time and have a variety of choices from that point forward. They either write a conversation with a...

Middle and high schoolers research the life of Pythagoras and the Pythagorean theorem. They write a short biography of Pythagoras and learn to apply the theorem in their study of right triangles.

Putty is proof that learning can be fun! Share the wonderful world of polymers with your class through an experiment. Young scientists create their own silly putty, then examine its properties.

Biology stars extract DNA samples from beef thymus and then examine its properties. They use enzymes to digest the DNA samples, and then use electrophoresis to separate fragments. Finally, they discuss methods and principles of...

Liken a cell and its organelles to a tiny person and its organs. After gathering information on cell structures and their functions, small groups collaborate to come up with an analogy of their own. They produce a collage describing the...

Get your class outside, away from the television, and maybe even learning something about nature while they're at it. Individuals will chose an open, natural space to spend time in for several days. Each day they will complete a page in...

Explore optics using an inquiry-based experimental approach! Young scholars use a set of materials to design and build a unit capable of focusing a beam of light. They experiment with different lenses to determine the best approach to...

Combine mathematics and science to calculate measurements of unmeasurable materials. Individuals use knowledge of density and volume to determine the thickness of the film used in production. They also apply stoichiometry to...

Middle schoolers develop an understanding of our planet as a system by designing a very-long-duration space mission in which the life-support system is patterned after that of earth.

Students discover that material and energy uses by a city come from outside the city boundaries. They realize that the pathway of these material is linear instead of cyclical as they are in natural ecosystems.

Students investigate the importance of food surpluses to the historical development of urban ecosystems.

Kindergartners listen to a story read by their teacher, then use magnetic shape pieces to construct simple designes. They "build" their own house using pre-cut paper shapes. This age-appropriate lesson would be an excellent choice for...

Students explore the concept and implications of extinction using the example of the Passenger Pigeon, once an extremely abundant species that was completely eliminated by humans.

Take out a map, a paper, a ruler, and those coveted colored pencils for a lesson on Chinese culture and geography. This is a multifaceted approach to basic geography skills that incorporate story telling, class discussion, primary source...

First, biology pupils research land and marine habitats along the route of skipper Rich Wilson's Great American II. Then, using colored paper clips scattered across a colored paper background, they play the predator-prey game to...

Travel back in American history to the era of slavery and abolition. After reading about the Underground Railroad, young historians examine a painting depicting the event, and write a narrative from the point of view of a person in the...

Seventh graders study events leading to, during and resulting from the American Revolution. They review elements of a political cartoon. They create and dramatize a scene from a Revolutionary War novel.

Students make their own predictions about the amount of different types of birds at each site before they go there. In groups, they collect the bird data and compose letters to their pen pals sharing their information. To end the...

Explore parametric equations in this lesson, and learn how to determine how much time it takes for an object to fall compared with an object being launched. high scoolers will use parametric equations to follow the path of objects in...

Students compile information to include in their career portfolio. In this portfolio lesson, students view example portfolios using the given website and identify the portfolio components. Students gather and compile artifacts for their...