National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Hiding Behind the Mask
Microchips are a man-made wonder. Investigate the manufacturing wonder with a hands-on inquiry-based activity. Scholars simulate the process of pattern transfer using photoresist. Their conclusion identifies how their process replicates...
Workforce Solutions
Reality Check
Talk about a reality check! High schoolers complete a lifestyle survey indicating their preference for housing, entertainment, etc., and then calculate the salary required to support those choices. Finally, they research the types of...
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Don't Mess with Mercury (Lesson C)
The health effects of mercury exposure if the focus of the first of three activities about the properties of metals. Pairs research mercury to write, prepare, and share posters, articles, or PSAs with the class.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Carbon, Greenhouse Gases, and Climate
Climate models mathematically represent the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, sun, surface, and ice. Part two in the series of four lessons looks at the role greenhouse gases play in keeping Earth warm and has participants...
Positively Autism
"Saying "Hello" to People" Social Skills Story
Support learners who may be very shy or reserved in saying "hello" to new people with this set of story slides. The presentation begins with a few slides describing why it is good to greet others, and concludes with opportunities to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Personal Choices and the Planet
The last activity in the series of four has individuals determine steps they can take to reduce their carbon footprints and then analyze their schools' recycling programs. Through a sustainability audit, they identify how and where their...
Curated OER
Nonfiction Genre Mini-Unit: Persuasive Writing
Should primary graders have their own computers? Should animals be kept in captivity? Young writers learn how to develop and support a claim in this short unit on persuasive writing.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Natural and Human Causes
Part three in the series of seven has pupils discussing the different greenhouses gases, learning about the carbon cycle, and then watching a short video about the carbon cycle. Based on their knowledge, individuals complete a greenhouse...
Polar Trec
Why Can’t I Eat This Fish?
Can turning on the television lead to toxins in the food supply? The lesson offers an opportunity for young scientists to complete guided research. A worksheet lists each question as well as the web page necessary to answer the question....
Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics
Looking to the Future
New Horizons set forth on a mission to Pluto in 2006. Ten years later, the spacecraft is still on its way. Here, enthusiastic scholars predict what they will be like—likes, dislikes, hobbies, etc.—when New Horizons arrives at its...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Newspaper
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
California Department of Education
Telling My Story
Entrance essays are the ultimate sales pitch! Show your seniors how to market themselves in the first of six college and career readiness lesson plans. Pupils discover the do's and don'ts of writing personal statements through research,...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Alcohols (16-19)
Propanol is a common alcohol used in hand sanitizers. The many forms and uses of alcohols fill an intriguing lesson. Scholars apply logic to match alcohols, chemical structural formulas, oxidation products, and more in a series of puzzles.
Federal Trade Commission
Ad Creation
How would someone market a new cereal to space aliens? Using the third lesson from a four-part Admongo series on advertising, pupils learn about persuasive techniques companies use to convince consumers to purchase their products. As a...
Foundation for Water & Energy Education
How Can Work Be Done with Water Power? Activity C
Third in a set of lessons regarding reservoirs, dams, and hydropower, this involves a two-day hydropower plant simulation. Collaborative groups build, maintain, and finance the plant. The transparency of the reservoir setup can be...
Illustrative Mathematics
Medieval Archer
Class members determine the distance a video game character must move to shoot an arrow over a castle wall. Players determine the new equation to enter to represent the trajectory of the arrow and find all the distances the character can...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Personal Choices and the Planet
How big is your footprint? Activity three culminates the series by having groups complete carbon footprint audits with people in their schools and/or around the districts. Groups then gather their data, create a presentation including...
Shodor Education Foundation
Derivate
Derive tangent lines through derivatives. Scholars use an app to graph functions and investigate derivatives and tangent lines. The interactive automatically graphs a tangent line at a specified point and can also produce tables of values.
Shodor Education Foundation
Recursion
Perform the operation ... and then do it again. Scholars investigate recursive formulas by creating and graphing them. Using the interactive, pupils set the variable, determine the initial value, and type in a recursive formula.The...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Acids
She threw sodium chloride at me—that's a salt! Scholars match acids to their formulas as well as their salt compounds. Completing a series of three gridlock puzzles reinforces each of the matches in a logical manner.
Alabama Department of Archives and History
An African American Represents Alabama during Reconstruction
The era after the Civil War saw a flourishing of African Americans exercising their rights. Using graphic organizers and Internet research, pupils consider the legacy of Benjamin Sterling Turner, who sat in Congress. Afterward, they...
Baylor College
Body Mass Index (BMI)
How do you calculate your Body Mass Index, and why is this information a valuable indicator of health? Class members discover not only what BMI is and practice calculating it using the height and weight of six fictitious individuals, but...
Macmillan Education
Understanding Your Skills and Talents
Skills, talents, and personal qualities are the focus of the fourth session in a 23-lesson series of life skills exercises. Participants build a mind map of all the skills and talents in the class, and then groups work together to...
Polar Trec
Nature's Density Column
Nature provides density columns in the polar regions that provides food for many animals. Young scientists build their own density columns with water in order to answer analysis questions. Through a slideshow presentation, scholars...