National Endowment for the Humanities
The Preamble to the Constitution: A Close Reading Lesson
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union..." These familiar lines begin the Preamble to the Constitution, but do learners know what they mean? A close reading exercise takes a look at the language of the...
Montana State University
One Mountain, Many Cultures
Americans may think of Mount Everest as a region dedicated to adventurous hikers, but many cultures have flourished there! Learners read informative books, watch videos, participate in classroom discussion, analyze folk tales, and...
Population Connection
The Carbon Crunch
Carbon is in the air; should we care? Teach the class why it is important to pay attention to carbon levels and how the world population and various countries across the globe affect the carbon levels in the atmosphere. High schoolers...
Curated OER
Character Development Through Song
Learners use songs to analyze their sense of identity and self-worth. In groups, they discuss and explore their own character development and discover how far they have come in recent years. They also identify the positive and negative...
Curated OER
Computing Indefinite Integrals
Provide your students with a framework for introducing indefinite integrals. It takes into account a learner’s prior knowledge of slope fields and definite integrals and uses the notion of an antiderivative to give them an intuitive...
Curated OER
Phases of Matter
Students are introduced to the basic states of matter: solids, liquids and gases. Through experimentation, students determine that liquids and solids have definite volume, that gases do not have definite volume, and that solids have a...
Curated OER
Fossil Fuels: Facing the Issues
Students explore energy by researching fuel usage on Earth. In this fossil fuel lesson, students define fossil fuels, the energy created by burning them, and the impact on the environment when using them. Students conduct pollution...
Curated OER
Lines, Lines, Everywhere
Pupils explore linear equation suing real life scenarios. In this algebra lesson, students find the slope and intercept of a line. They create table of values to plot their graph and draw conclusions.
Curated OER
Chart Making for Navigators
Students discuss the importance and function of nautical maps for sailors. They, in groups, take soundings of a simulated bay in a shoebox and develop a nautical chart that enable them to navigate the shoebox safely.
Curated OER
Charting Neptune's Realm: Profiles
Young scholars identify and describe the importance of nautical profiles in early navigation. They draw a profile of a street or mall and explore the effectiveness of different types of directions.
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
To Boldly Go, or Not
Here is a different way to combine social studies and science. Have your high schoolers read a passage about the 2004 vision for space exploration and then discuss the practicality, costs, and reasons for returning to the moon. Then, the...
Curated OER
Spice Up Your Life
Second graders identify major spices found in the world. They link spices with countries they are grown in and the uses for these valuable items.
Curated OER
Converting Fractions to Decimals
Seventh graders take a simple fraction and give it decimal form either by the use of equivalent fractions or division with a calculator.
Curated OER
Ancient American Art and Geometry
Students explore the relationship between geometry and ancient American art. They see how to recognize geometric properties in specific works and explain how these properties contribute to their meaning and artistic merit.
Curated OER
Pacing a Gunther Chain
Students pace a Gunther Chain, a measurement used by foresters to determine distance and area. They discuss that pacing is individualized depending on age, gender, etc. They practice to find an average pace. Teams estimate, pace and...
Curated OER
Canada, O Canada
Students study the similarities and differences between Canada and the United State in this unit. They examine geography, government and culture as they "travel" through Canada.
Curated OER
Perceiving the Prairie
Twelfth graders explore the changing concept of "prairie" through written and artistic works. They write their own poem or essay describing the prairie after discussing how differently people perceive the prairie.
Curated OER
Ohm's Law
If your future physicists know how to construct simple circuits, include resistors, and use a multi-meter to measure voltage, then you might employ this lesson on Ohm's law. Each lab group investigates the relationships among...
Curated OER
Discovering Pi
Sixth graders measure circumference and diameter to the nearest eighth of an inch, record measurements on a spreadsheet, and use the internet to complete a "scavenger hunt" of facts concerning pi.
Curated OER
Levers and Pulleys
Seventeen pages of material leave you well-prepared to carry out this lesson on levers and pulleys. Photos and diagrams make the instructions clear; resource links provide additional information. The missing aspects of this teacher's...
Curated OER
SBRR Strategies to Teach Vocabulary
First graders use principles for learning useful, interesting and sophisticated words based on scientifically-based reading research. They expand their vocabulary knowledge of Tier 2 words through explicit, direct instruction.
Curated OER
Clean Energy: Hydro-power
Students read about and discuss renewable and non renewable energy and identify how a dam produced energy using hydro-power. In this water energy lesson plan, students look at diagrams and pictures of water energy technology.
Shodor Education Foundation
Surface Area of Rectangular Prism
With this interactive lesson, learners compute the surface area of rectangular prisms. They visit an online investigation applet and record data on the provided handout. Pair this lesson with the volume lesson by the same publisher as an...
Shodor Education Foundation
Volume of Prisms
Explore the concept of volume of prisms using an applet to perform the calculations. The link to the interactive applet is embedded into the lesson plan as well as a link to associated data sheets. Get your math class to the computer lab...