Curated OER
Ecological Decision Making
Students, beginning individually and later in small groups use the decision making model to address the question of reintroducing the wolf into Yellowstone National Park. Each small group elects a spokesperson to report to the class,...
Curated OER
Go, West, Pack Light!
Students investigate the hardships related to pioneer life and the Wagon Train. They listen to an excerpt from the book "Little House on the Prairie," and discuss the hardships faced by pioneers travelling west. In small groups...
Curated OER
The Russian Years: Back in the USSR
Students examine communist Russia. In this lesson on changes in politics, students work in small groups to compare and contrast soviet communist era citizen rights to those of the US. They participate in discussion of a film and create a...
US Environmental Protection Agency
A Mock Town Meeting on a Proposed Tank Farm
Intended as a follow up to the Protecting Your Drinking Water activity, young environmentalists use their assessment of the a hypothetical town's water supply to debate the installation of underground chemical storage tanks. With...
Social Media Toolbox
Social Media Plan
It's gameplan time! Journalism scholars create a social media plan based upon work completed in previous lessons. The activity, fifth in a 16-part Social Media Toolbox series, focuses on using data and consensus to create an effective...
Museum of Tolerance
Improving My Community Through Social Action
Action is the heart of change. Encourage class members to not only identify critical social justice issues in their school or community but to take action as well. As individuals or as groups, they research a situation, develop a...
University of Colorado
Looking Inside Planets
Researchers use scientific data to understand what is inside each of the planets. The first in a series of six, this lesson builds off of that concept by having pupils use a data table to create their own scale models of the interiors of...
Dick Blick Art Materials
“Print & Go” T-Shirts
Here's a colorful activity that can be modified for any age group. Kids create printing blocks and craft t-shirts and/or canvas sacks using the blocks and fabric paint.
Science Matters
Energy Flow
Budding scientists work collaboratively to reenact energy flow in a food chain. Scholars take on roles such as producer and consumer and perform tasks that symbolize energy flow in order to provide evidence of how much energy passes...
Louisiana Department of Education
Essential Elements Cards
Use essential elements cards to help lesson plan! Each card contains an informational text common core standard for grade levels six through eight and suggestions for activities and supports. Cards address skills such as citing textual...
Virginia Department of Education
Average Atomic Masses
Facilitate learning by using small objects to teach the principles of atomic mass in your science class. Pupils determine the average mass of varying beans as they perform a series of competitive experiments. They gather data and...
Novelinks
The Dark Is Rising: Problematic Situation Strategy
What items would you need to save the world from an evil wizard? Prior to reading Susan Cooper's young adult contemporary fantasy The Dark is Rising, and to generate interest in the tale, class groups must reach consensus on a...
Chicago Botanic Garden
The Carbon Cycle
There is 30 percent more carbon in the atmosphere today than there was 150 years ago. The first lesson in the four-part series teaches classes about the carbon cycle. Over two to three days, classes make a model of the cycle,...
Scholastic
Hillary Conquers Everest
If a field trip to the summit of Mount Everest isn't in your school budget, make the trek virtually! An interactive lesson allows class members to follow Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's trail up the mountain, and provides...
University of Colorado
Strange New Planet
The first remote sensors were people in hot air balloons taking photographs of Earth to make maps. Expose middle school learners to space exploration with the use of remote sensing. Groups explore and make observations of a new...
Science & Plants for Schools
Photosynthesis - A Survival Guide
Young scientists learn what it takes for life on Earth to survive with this series of photosynthesis resources. Offering twelve different activities ranging from independent practice worksheets to in depth scientific...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 1
How did Elizabeth Cady Stanton use rhetoric to convince others of her views? Scholars begin reading "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton," which argues that women should have voting rights. Pupils complete a Quick Write to analyze how...
Curated OER
Roller Coasters
Twisting and turning through the sky, roller coasters are popular attractions at amusement parks around the world, but how exactly do they work? Explore the physics behind these thrilling rides with an engineering design activity....
Illustrative Mathematics
Equality Number Sentences
Understanding the concept of equality is fundamental to the success of young mathematicians. To explore this basic idea, children compare the dots arranged in pairs of rectangles in order to determine whether or not they contain an equal...
PBS
Out of the Shadows | Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise
Two powerful video clips launch a study of race relations in the United States after the Selma, Alabama riots, the passage of the Votings Rights Act, and the riots in Watts, California.
American Chemical Society
The Energy Efficiency of Heating Water
Can a small change in laboratory procedures save energy? Scholars test three different methods for heating water in a science lab. Then, they calculate the energy efficiency for each and compare them to determine which uses the least...
Serendip
Using Molecular and Evolutionary Biology to Understand HIV/AIDS and Treatment
HIV mutates rapidly, making treatments challenging to find. Scholars learn about why it mutates so quickly and how scientists race to find treatments. The resource approaches the issue from both a molecular and evolutionary perspective...
University of Colorado
Patterns and Fingerprints
Human fingerprint patterns are the result of layers of skin growing at different paces, thus causing the layers to pull on each other forming ridges. Here, groups of learners see how patterns and fingerprints assist scientists in a...
August House
When Turtle Grew Feathers
Friendship is a valuable part of growing up. Learn about the importance of friendship with a variety of activities based on When Turtle Grew Feathers by Tim Tingle. Kids practice making musical instruments, discussing plot points,...