National Endowment for the Humanities
Kennewick Man: Science and Sacred Rights
"Have respect for the dead!" Scholars investigate how science and religion often clash. As they look into the laws of science and the laws of religion, the legal ramifications at the federal level of both play into an argument they...
Curated OER
Colorful Colorado
Students investigate the components of white light as viewed through a prism. The multiple colors of the spectrum produced are related to wavelengths and experienced through the creation of a color wheel.
Curated OER
Comet Myths, Facts, and Legends
Here is an interactive book lesson through which learners explore the facts and stories about comets. The plan is comprehensive, providing background information, standards met, vocabulary, assessment ideas, and more. Though the content...
Channel Islands Film
Magic Isle: Lesson Plan 1
What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...
Channel Islands Film
Arlington Springs Man: Lesson Plan 1
Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...
Curated OER
INFRARED OLD FAITHFUL
Students view video clips and still images of Old Faithful and review the main questions and curiosities regarding Old Faithful. They break into groups and take on the roles of explorers and have come upon this interesting geothermal...
Curated OER
Roaming Biomes
Students use the Internet to research the capabilities of earth-observation satellites. Using the information, they write a report on how remote-sensing technology is used to measure the impact of climate change. They identify the...
Curated OER
Tree-ring Dating
Students complete activity sheets and participate in discussions while they study dendrochronology. They determine a tree's age and recognize how the climate varied over time.
Curated OER
Gonna Take a Sedimentary Journey
Students collect water samples from a local source, test it, filter it and identify the materials suspended in it. Students disucss the possible sources of sediment in their watershed.
Curated OER
Learning Lesson: The Shadow Knows I
Students examine the elevation of the sun to discover the changes in seasons. They observe and measure the length of their shadow. They compare this measurement to one taken four months later.
Curated OER
Lesson 4 Activity 1: Mapping the Third Dimension
Students work in pairs to construct a simple stereoscope.
Curated OER
Visual Opacity
Students discover the difference between transparent, translucent and opaque. They use those descriptions to classify clouds. They create a presentation in which they show the different types of clouds with their descriptions.