Why are US dollars no longer backed by gold and silver? What is our medium of exchange, and what would it be like to live in a barter economy? Learners consider these questions, as well as learn about the major historical events in the...

How well do you know your affixes? Find out how proficient your learners are with a game that requires them to define various affixes and use them to create words that will go into sentences.

After listening to and analyzing a series of FDR's Fireside Chats, groups create their own recordings, and using New Deal programs, address a current economic condition.

The final lesson in a series of six about the Great Depression focuses on the Federal Reserve's role in stabilizing the economy.

As part of their study of the Great Depression, young economists examine statistical data to determine the effectiveness of FDR's New Deal recovery programs.

Teach your class some fairly complex terms—factors of production, human resources, capital resources, natural resources, and intermediate goods—with a storybook (Messy Bessey's Holidays), plenty of visuals and handouts, and related...

Get the facts about credit and take a close look at what factors into a consumer credit report with this fantastic lesson. Your pupils will read informational texts, read sample financial documents, and discuss the advantages...

What is the difference between a private and a public place? The focus in this second lesson on family life and sexual health is building an understanding of the difference between the concepts of private and public and the...

Young scientists design a rocket to launch using Newton's Laws of Motion in order to discover for themselves the forces of motion. 

What is the difference between a friend and an acquaintance? What about an acquaintance and a stranger? As part of a unit on Family Life and Sexual Health (FLASH), class members role play appropriate responses to situations involving...

Have you ever tried to light ice on fire? With methane hydrate, you can do exactly that. The ice forms with methane inside so it looks like ice, but is able to burn. The lesson uses group research and a hands-on activity to help scholars...

Have you ever tried to find hidden items in a picture when you don't know what you are looking for or how many things are hidden? A lesson applies that same concept to sampling the deep sea habitats. Participants must first create a...

Most drugs used today come from nature, so the discovery of new ecosystems in the deep sea is exciting from a medical perspective. Scholars develop their own bioassay to test germination rates in seeds. 

How many simple machines does it take to make a robotic arm? An inquiry-based activity explores that topic and challenges pupils to build a robotic arm that can stretch, turn, and more. A few questions help guide them in the...

Get high school historians to step outside their own shoes by responding to JFK's inaugural address from the perspective of a civil rights activist, a soviet diplomat, or a Cuban exile. After a class discussion about the address,...

Historians have proven that as early as 1497 skilled navigators were using a kamal to sail across oceans. Scholars learn about navigation tools and astronomy before building their own kamals. They then learn how to use it to determine...

What do we do when a dive is too dangerous for humans to accomplish? Send in the robots! Middle school scientists get acquainted with several different models of submersible robots in the second activity of six from NOAA. Lab groups then...

Who knew that a possible answer to Earth's energy resource problems was lurking deep beneath the ocean's surface? Part four of a six-part series introduces Earth Science pupils to methane hydrate, a waste product of methanogens. After...

Can a sponge cure cancer? Life science pupils visit the drugstore under the sea in the fifth lesson plan of six. Working groups research the topic then get hands-on experience by testing the inhibiting effects of several plant...

See the underwater world through a different pair of eyes! Middle school marine biologists identify deep-sea organisms by examining images taken by an ROV from the Okeanos Explorer. After determining what creatures lie beneath the...

Are opioids the most abused drug after marijuana? How hard is it for young people to obtain painkillers without a prescription? Middle and high schoolers explore the growing epidemic of opioid addiction with a instructional activity that...

Feeling high is not the only side effect of abusing prescription opioids. Middle and high schoolers learn more about specific painkillers, including Fentanyl, Oxycodone, and Clonazepam, as well as their common brand names and extensive...

Can a negative perception of a president's foreign policy harm his or her historical legacy? A project that winds the clock back to the date of Theodore Roosevelt's death puts students at the editorial desk of a fictional newspaper....

What rights are guaranteed to students? Do they align with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was approved by the United Nations in 1948? Middle and high schoolers present persuasive arguments about the rights they believe...