Curated OER
Letters to Local and State Legislators
Pupils locate their local or state legislator's address. They write and send letters to their local and state legislators critiquing their voting record on environmental issues and sharing their own views on these issues.
Curated OER
Forces on the Human Molecule
Students conduct several simple lab activities to explore the five fundamental load types that can act on structures: tension, compression, shear, bending, and torsion. In this activity, students play the role of molecules in a beam...
Curated OER
Blast Off
Students investigate how rocket thrust is generated with propellant. They listen to a teacher-led lecture, discuss Newton's third law of motion, answer discussion questions, and view photos of rockets and rocket designs.
Curated OER
Pronoun Case and Perspective
For this pronoun case and perspective worksheet, 6th graders identify, by circling, the case and person for 9 pronouns in sentences; there is a chart included with definitions and examples.
Curated OER
Giants Of The Past
Students create a paper sculpture based on ancient Greek and Roman statues in the Getty Museum. In this paper sculpture lesson plan, students read the story The Mysterious Giant of Barletta by Tomie dePaola. They then make a sculpture...
Curated OER
From Commonplace to Mythic
Students examine a selection of paintings by Jean-Francois Millet to explore both the objective and subjective levels of art critique.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Tears in Rain
Students examine photographs before writing captions for them. They develop visual literacy as they see how photographs are manipulated to show the effects of acid rain. They rewrite the photo captions after a class discussion.
Curated OER
Double Exposure Lesson Plan: Artistic Analysis of a Photograph
Students view photographs on Web module, practice answering questions of analysis, and identify artistic qualities of photographs by applying the analysis of elements of art.
Curated OER
Ani-mania
Students view and discuss Robert Harris' farm landscapes and create their own mural out of wood. In groups, they discuss various issues affecting pets throughout the world and create a way to protest or celebrate the issue. They try to...
Curated OER
Making Connections: Exploring Four Themes through Art: Class Collage from Print Sources
Students explore the art themes of form, content, ornament, and decoration. They explore the Illinois State Museum website, view the online Theme Galleries, and create a collage that reflects a theme.
Curated OER
Is That Legal? A Case of Acid Rain
Develop an environmental case study! Elementary learners discover how a case study is used as an analysis tool. The goal of this activity is to show pupils how techniques of persuasion (including background, supporting evidence,...
Teach Engineering
Dirty Decomposers
Do not let the class just sit and rot. Pupils learn how decomposition and nutrient recycling is important to an ecosystem. Groups design an experiment to determine how environmental conditions affect decomposition. They develop a poster...
Illuminations
Circumference and Areas of Circles
Middle and high schoolers listen to a scenario about a puppy and use the scenario to develop formulas in order to find the area of a circle. In this circumference lesson, pupils understand how to find the radius, diameter, area of a...
Curated OER
Seeing and Feeling Sound Vibrations
Groups rotate through a series of stations and work with a partner to observe sound waves. Children describe sound in terms of pitch, volume, and frequency. To apply their new knowledge, the class considers how these observations can...
Curated OER
Earth Rocks!
Students study the basic elements of the Earth's crust: rocks, soils and minerals. They categorize rocks, soils and minerals and how they are literally the foundation for our civilization. They also explore how engineers use rock soils...
Curated OER
How Hot Is It?
Discuss the difference between conduction, convection and radiation of thermal energy, and complete activities with your class by investigating the difference between temperature, thermal energy and the heat capacity of different materials.
Curated OER
A House is a House for Me
Students evaluate the impact climates have on the building of structures. They research the different types of materials used to build houses in various climates and build small models of houses which are tested against different climates.
Curated OER
Make Your Own Temperature Scale
Differentiate between temperature and thermal energy. Your class will build a thermometer using simple materials and develop their own scale for measuring temperature. Discuss with your class and consider why engineers need to understand...
Curated OER
Modern Day Pyramids
Learners investigate the ways in which ancient technologies - six types of simple machines and combinations - are used to construct modern buildings. As they work together to solve a design problem (designing and building a modern...
Curated OER
Destination Outer Space
Students investigate space travel. In this space travel lesson students examine space exploration history, engineers and scientists involved in space exploration, and Newton's third law of motion. Students make rockets.
Curated OER
Fortified Breakfast
Learners reverse engineer a cereal. For this dietary lesson students identify the minerals that the human body needs to function. Learners examine how foods are fortified by food engineers. Students find the amount of iron in a cereal by...
Teach Engineering
The Grid
Upper graders form a "Presidential Task Force," and attempt to make recommendations concerning the future of the national power grid. After a teacher-led discussion which proves that our nation's energy consumption will soon outpace our...
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Environmental Engineering
A series on environmental engineering introduces the class to issues that environmental engineers work to solve. This first lesson focuses on air and land issues, and looks at ways to reduce pollution.
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Water Chemistry
What are the issues surrounding water quality? Viewers of this short presentation gain information about the importance of clean water, the lack of fresh water, water contamination, and ways that engineers treat water.