Class members conclude their reading of the supplemental text, “Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for our Cheap Clothes?” and use the provided Evaluating Argument and Evidence Tool to analyze the evidence Anna McMullen uses to...

As a mid-unit assessment, writers use evidence from the supplemental reading articles "Globalization," "Our Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills," and "Bangladesh Factory Collapse: Who Really Pays for Our Cheap Clothes?" to draft an argument...

What can consumers do to pressure companies to produce "ethically manufactured goods"? Readers examine the evidence Amy Odell uses in the supplemental text "How Your Addiction to Fast Fashion Kills" to support her argument and her...

The urbanization and consumerism of modern China is the hot topic up for critical analysis. Kids view a series of photographs that specifically describe Chinese modernization, urbanization, consumerism, and waste. They discuss each...

Students identify examples of linkages between places. They explain that communication and transportation are forms of movement and know that most of the goods and products in our daily lives are produced and manufactured in places...

Help develop an awareness of the natural and manufactured environment and relate the subject matter to young learners' lives. The interpretation of the meaning of art is reinforced and its application to self and other audiences is...

Students analyze the packaging process. In this consumer awareness instructional activity, students analyze the process of packaging a potato and identify positive and negative ways of packaging. Students study statistics on an overhead...

Learners make an environmentally sound package. In this packaging instructional activity students examine various types of modern packaging. The problem of waste is discussed leading into a discussion of waste reduction. The learners...

Utilize the lesson on utilization. The second installment of a nine-part technology/engineering series teaches scholars about the flow of a balanced assembly line and the definition of utilization. Videos, activities, and simulations...

Make Newton proud. Scholars apply their understanding of forces and energy to an engineering design challenge. They learn about simple machines, create a presentation on Newton's laws, and develop a balloon-powered car.

Moving along the line. Class members research how a conveyor belt works in order to gain background information. Groups then design a conveyor belt that will carry a piece of candy four feet and along a 90-degree turn. The groups...

The industrialization and urbanization of Alabama during the New South era (1865-1914) is the focus of a lesson that asks class members to use primary source documents to examine the impact of industrialization on Alabama workers and...

Even if a school has gone digital, chances are there's still plenty of paper being used. The three activities help scholars learn about the environmental impact of paper and another consumer products of their choosing, the issue of...

Greeting cards can be cute or pretty, and they end up in the trash. Turn your old greeting cards into a functional box. Learners fold, cut, and tape old cards to create small boxes that are perfect for holding paperclips, erasers, or...

Students discover the meaning of reforestation and the effect if has on the environment. They identify the parts of a pencil and delve into the process of pencil manufacturing. They then illustrate their findings graphically in book form.

Students research patterns and networks of economic interdependence. They work cooperatively to create 3-dimensional representations of common objects and charts describing the objects' components and countries of origin. Students...

A study of an image from The Library of Congress collection Civil War Photographs 1861-1865 launches an investigation of the connection between the Civil War and American industrialization. After analyzing “Petersburg, Va. The...

An environmenta science unit includes three lessons plus a cumulative project covering the ecosystem. Scholars follow the history of the Ford Rouge Factory from its construction on wetlands and how it destroyed the...

Enough with the talking, let's build something! In the fifth step in the engineering design process, young engineers build a prototype to test their ideas. The lesson walks them through the process of evaluating it step-by-step....

Sixth graders work together as a class to become a company that has the job of researching, designing, manufacturing, and marketing a useful product. Student transfer plans of final design into a CAD drawing and mass produce the...

Students identify and analyze the concept of integrated resource management. Then they identify the importance of computers in manufacturing management. Students also identify and define the meaning of acronyms such as CAD, CAM, CIM,...

Young scholars explain why new drugs are needed to treat cardiovascular disease, cancer, inflammation, and infections. They infer why some marine invertebrates are promising sources of new drugs, explaining the process in which cells...

Students explore how natural earth materials are processed into a human-made product. They simulate a manufacturing process by making paper. Students review the importance of recycling in preserving our natural earth resources.

For this activity young scholars pretend that they have been hired by a candy manufacturer to design a box for a new product they are beginning to market. The manufacturer has pre-determined the volume of the candy box. It is the...