Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...

Is time on your side? Pupils come up with an experiment to test whether their classmates can guess how long it takes for 30 seconds to elapse. They divide the class data into two groups, create box-and-whisker plots, and analyze the...

There are many ways to approach finding the rational approximation of an unknown square root. Here is a problem that will help math learners make a connection between square roots and their order on a number line. As usual, determine two...

Have your class organize information about strikes in a handy chart. Pupils take notes on the Homestead Strike, the Lawrence Strike, and the Pullman Strike. Along the left side of the chart are six questions for learners to answer about...

Take a walk on the wild side with a set of animal vocabulary cards! Each card includes a picture of an animal and its name in large print for kids to read.

Take a walk on the wild side with a project about animal habitats. After kids observe a chosen animal in its home, they describe the animal's food and water sources, shelter, and how it raises its young. They then write a short fictional...

Take a longer look at a formative time in history with a lesson that explores the causes of the American Civil War. After viewing a series of images and explanations for various forces at play, middle schoolers choose the images that...

Take an alternative route with trigonometry and let learners connect a tweaked version of the pythagorean theorem to the original in terms of triangle sides. The assignment leads participants towards deriving the Pythagorean identity...

Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...

Calling all spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs! Four teams compete against one another to collect all 52 cards in a deck. Each team lines up on one side of the gym, opposite of the deck of cards. Each team member takes turns running to...

Get a better understanding of the trigonometric functions by taking a look at the flip side. Pupils create angles within a unit circle and compare the values of the standard trigonometric functions to their reciprocal functions. The...

Time is on your side. Scholars plot three points on number lines with different time units to represent the time it takes three people to bake pies. They determine the fastest baker and the difference in times between the bakers.

Take a walk on the wild side! Episode one of an eight-part series of interactive lessons regarding Gorongosa National Park invites learners to become a part of the citizen science community. Scholars read a brief overview of the trail...

Don't stay out too late! Scholars analyze the need for youth curfews in a democratic society. They examine primary documents, case studies, and short video clips to form their opinions and take a position on the issue. Holding a class...

What part did Kentucky play in the Civil War? A constructed response essay assignment tests to ensure scholars understand the concepts and the arguments for the causes of the Civil War. Learners must read a primary source quote and then...

Aim high with a task on window washers. An assessment task challenges learners to determine the number of windows two people wash. They do this using a given number of window rows on each side of a building. In addition, they find the...

Take a similar approach to three dimensions. Pupils develop the relationship between areas of similar objects and see how they relate to the ratio of the sides. Building upon area formulas, small groups put together volume formulas for...

Eeny, meany, miny, moe. It's time to choose a side. Scholars learn about taking a position by watching a video of a speech about local organic food. Next, pupils use graphic organizers to plan their speeches about which food chain is...

Taking calculus doesn't mean one can forget all about algebra. Viewers of an educational video learn how to determine limits using algebraic properties. They apply basic operations to calculate limits and use substitution to find one-...

Four lessons make up a unit focused on writing persuasive essays. Each unit builds on the last, ultimately taking pupils through the writing process. Scholars make a claim, create an argument, debate both sides, then state their opinion....

Viewers to learn how to solve a differential equation written implicitly. Pupils find out that they must first separate the variables to take the integral of each side before solving for y to arrive at a general solution for the...

Readers of Lord of the Flies take on the persona of one of the characters in William Golding's novel and craft a postcard to send home describing their adventures. On one side, they create an image of the island, and on the other, they...

Those who build together learn together. Scholars work in groups on two teamwork-building activities that involve engineering design. They first construct the tallest tower they can using five sheets of paper and masking tape. Next, they...

Here's a topic classes can really dig—the fossil record. Use the well-organized and thoughtful road map to take eighth graders back in time to unearth the answer. Learn how our climate has changed, and how organisms have...