Curated OER
Fighting Fake News
Fake news. Alternative facts. Internet trolls. In an age of Newspeak, it's increasingly important to equip 21st century learners with the skills needed to determine the legitimacy of claims put forth on social media, in print, and in...
Curated OER
Columbus wants to find a shorter route to Asia
Eighth graders identify the reasons why Columbus wanted to find a shorter route to Asia. They make a timeline of the sequence of events surrounding his explorations. Students draw a map of the routes taken by early explorers around...
Curated OER
Romanticism 1800-1860
What do Roger Chillingworth, Dr. Heidegger, and Ethan Brand have in common? They are all American literature poster boys for Romanticism, advertising the dangers of valuing reason over feeling and intuition. Introduce your class to...
Curated OER
Hey Kid, Want To Buy A Bridge?
Learners study the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the inventions of Thomas Alva Edison. They design an infomercial to sell a product or a service for an invention. They create an invention that improves the world and write an...
Curated OER
It’s a Big, Big World
Young scholars examine the role of the explorers. In this explorers and conquistadors, students create word puzzles (Wordles) regarding the time period in history. Young scholars conduct research regarding a particular explorer and...
Curated OER
A Differentiated Way through Think Dots
Young scholars examine reasons that led people to explore, identify "West" as defined following Revolutionary War, explain importance of finding natural resources, develop time line of dates and events leading up to Lewis and Clark...
National First Ladies' Library
The Education of Freedmen...and Women and Children
Pupils examine political debate surrounding Freedmen's Bureau, use primary sources to explore trials and successes of effort to educate newly-freed slaves of all ages, research reasons for creation of Freedmen's Bureau, discuss President...
Curated OER
Age Structure Studies
Students collect data from Internet sources to compare age distributions in their city, county or state with that of other places in the US or other countries. They construct and interpret age-structure population pyramids and research...
Curated OER
The Lady's Age
Students use a game to establish the context of solving problems in a systematic and mathematical fashion. They also solve various types of equations to find reasonable solutions.
Curated OER
Famous People: Teacher Notes
Young statisticians practice creating scatter plots. First, they estimate the age of 14 people. Next, they write down the estimate in a table labeled x. Then write down their actual age in the table labeled y. Using these x and y...
Curated OER
Signs of Change: Tree Rings
Young scholars identify and experiment with dendrochronology (the study of tree rings to answer ecological questions about the recent past) and come up with conclusions as to what possible climatic conditions might affect tree growth in...
C-SPAN
Why Do Americans Not Vote in Elections?
In an age of inflamed politics, who votes, who doesn't vote, and why are the questions everyone is trying to answer. Pupils listen to scholars, journalists and data crunchers on voting statistics to make their own conclusions. A chart...
British Council
Smoking Stinks
There are lots of good reasons not to smoke. Make sure your middle and high schoolers understand each and every one with a lesson that prompts them to read anti-smoking posters, note the main points, and write a short response on the...
Curated OER
Persuade the Aliens!
Why do we do what we do? Imagine that people on a faraway planet came to visit Earth. Could you convince them to adopt a custom or behavior that we participate in here? Learners of all ages write persuasive essays. If you're using this...
Curated OER
Romanticism: The Artistic Expression of Liberalism
The epic clash of reason and emotion comes to life in this informative presentation. Detailing the period of Romanticism in 19th century Europe, these slides contain pictures of the most famous pieces of art during this period. Viewers...
Curated OER
Romantic Period in Music, Art, and Literature
“Romanticism aims at enlarging experience by exploring the real.” This excerpt from Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence introduces a PowerPoint that examines the characteristics of and the major figures in music, art, and literature...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Youth and Tobacco Use
There are a number of social, emotional, and physiological reasons why teenagers start smoking, and why they continue smoking into adulthood. Help class members understand why smoking begins in youth—and how to protect themselves from...
iCivics
Drafting Board: Kids and Credit
Should kids under the age of 18 be given access to credit cards? Learners identify pros and cons of using credit, develop claims based on evidence, and finally argue reasons for or against credit for minors.
Outdoor Learning Center
Outdoor Survival
Which of the following can you survive without for the longest time: water, food, or a positive mental attitude? The answer may surprise you. Guide learners of all ages through games, activities, and discussions about surviving in the...
Statistics Education Web
Saga of Survival (Using Data about Donner Party to Illustrate Descriptive Statistics)
What did gender have to do with the survival rates of the Donner Party? Using comparative box plots, classes compare the ages of the survivors and nonsurvivors. Using the same method, individuals make conclusions about the...
Curated OER
Invent a Holiday
Who wouldn't want to create their own holiday? Use the 12 elements of a holiday to have learners of all ages create their own holiday. These days, it seems like we make any excuse for a holiday! Consider having some fun with your kids...
National Security Agency
Fraction Fever
This unit on fractions allows for upper-aged elementary learners to explore ways to find the greatest common factor and least common multiple of two numbers. Ultimately, young mathematicians will be able to identify equivalent fractions,...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Fabulous Fibonacci and His Nifty Numbers
Fibonacci numbers are not only found in the classroom but also in nature. Explore the concept of Fibonacci numbers through a series of lessons designed to gain insight into the mathematical reasoning behind the number pattern, and spark...
Noyce Foundation
Miles of Tiles
Create number sentences and equations to solve geometric problems. Each activity in the series of five asks young mathematicians to consider different-sized tiles to build structures according to specific criteria. The first activities,...