The evaporation of water and what happens to it as it travels through the water cycle are the focuses of this instructional activity. The evaporation of water seems like a "magical" process to people of all ages. This instructional...

The human body can be a mystery, or at least a riddle. Fifth graders pair up and use Photostory to create a riddle relating to a human body part and how it functions in the body system. They will compose a riddle, use a story board, take...

When you think about environmental sustainability, the Ford Motor Company probably isn't the first company to come to mind. A four-lesson unit introduces learners to the idea of sustainability and environmental stewardship. It describes...

Students design an environmentally friendly home.  In this middle school math/science lesson, students watch videos on creating green design.  Students work in collaborative groups to determine what makes a house green and to...

Complete a unit of lessons on hearing and sound. Learners conduct sound experiments, research the history of the telephone and scientific contributions of Alexander Graham Bell, and create a model of the human ear.

Do research projects at your school look like a class of eighth graders staring at a blank screen? Use the Big 6 research method to guide middle schoolers through the process of finding a topic, searching for and evaluating sources,...

Model hardness testing with a self-designed hardness test. Young scholars rate the hardness of different types of aspirin using the Vicker's Hardness scale. They then relate hardness to the solubility of each aspirin tablet.

Standing up for beliefs sometimes leads to trouble! The father in Flush takes knows this all too well when he sinks a boat in protest to its illegal dumping. With his dad behind bars, the son, Noah, takes matters into his hands by...

Change is not always easy. That becomes evident in the story Fourteenth Goldfish. Ellie, the main character, does not like change and struggles with new things in her life.  Scholars learn how Ellie deals with change as they...

Is the grass always greener on the other side? Andrew from Freckle Juice seems to think so! He admires his classmate's freckles and wishes he had some of his own, so he purchases a special juice to get them! While reading through the...

Everyone wants to feel like they belong. James, in James and the Giant Peach, finds a feeling of belonging in a very odd place—inside a peach! Scholars read the story of James and the Peach and work through vocabulary, language, and...

Airline mechanics must be precise, or the consequences could be deadly. Their target ranges alter with changes in temperature and pressure. When preparing an airplane for flight, you must read a maintenance graph. The second lesson of...

What a terrific lesson! Learners discuss the animal kingdom, and classify them as vertebrates and invertebrates. They also identify them as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There is even a taxonomic breakdown of popular...

Teach your middle schoolers to use their ears to their highest potential! Pupils practice active listening skills and reflect on how careful listening might prove to be important in and out of the classroom.

A controversial construction project in South America, the Belo Monte dam, is endangering local cultures, ecosystems, and communities. High schoolers create a concept map based on an online article they read before engaging in...

Even supposed Utopian societies have their flaws. Using an educator's guide, individuals explore the society Ally Condie creates in Matched. Reflective writing prompts double as discussion questions and cover key themes in the novel, as...

If you have ever injured your shoulder, you know it takes a while to improve your arm's range of motion. For this real-world example, young mathematicians gain insight into the world of physical therapy while they analyze a case study...

Farming is full of mathematics, and it provides numerous real-world examples for young mathematicians to study. Here, we look at a cylinder-shaped storage silo that has one flat side. Given certain dimensions, students need to determine...

Through a variety of physical and theoretical situations, learners are led through the development of some of the deepest concepts in high school mathematics. Complex numbers, the fundamental theorem of algebra and rational exponents...

Students design and test balsa cars.  In this crash tet lesson, students design and build their own cars to specifications.  They explore the physics of motion and vehicle crash safety.

Young scholars develop a concept of why skepticism is important in science by looking at actual scientific studies regarding the effect of playing Mozart's music to infants. They record a journal of their inner thoughts and feelings...

Learners explore the history of Montana's Native Americans by reading James Welch's Fools Crow. Set shortly after the Civil War, the novel focuses on a young Blackfoot Indian and his tribe. Over the course of several weeks, class members...

The class gets their mean and median all in a row with an assessment task that uses a population of ducklings to work with data displays and measures of central tendency. Pupils create a frequency chart and calculate the mean and median....

Agriculture is truly a math-based profession! Help the dairy farmer determine the supplies needed to complete his barn. Using given dimensions, learners build equations and use units to determine the correct amount of materials.