Middle schoolers understand the sacrifices and problems in undoing an unfair situation. In this unfairness instructional activity, students discuss the reasons for the Montgomery Boycott and discuss worksheet and feelings about dealing...

Students read media and identify examples of science technology and society. In this physics instructional activity, students learn about acceleration and velocity. Students estimate how many people would have come in contact with a...

Students explore the relationship between nature and architecture. In this cross curriculum history, culture, and architecture lesson, students observe and discuss structures visible in nature. Students view websites in which Native...

Students use the Internet to research a topic about energy conservation. They summarize the research information in an original studenT book and visit a local elementary school to present their projects.

Prompt your class to interact with Jack London's Call of the Wild. By analyzing the events in the novel, middle schoolers discover how human experiences create who a person becomes. They critique and analyze the reading, focusing on...

Your charges will enjoy putting together this model of the space shuttle and completing the three challenge activities described in the lesson. The worksheets embedded in the plan that pupils use to cut out their gliders are beautifully...

What's in a cell, anyway? Kids read informational text on what makes up both animal and plant cells, including a page of vocabulary terms they will need to be familiar with (cytoplasm, ribosomes, vacuoles, etc.). Full-color images...

Students examine data to investigate the impact of lead shot pellets on waterfowl populations. They graph their findings and discover how lead in ingested by birds and poisons them. As an extension, students research legislation and...

Do not let the class just sit and rot. Pupils learn how decomposition and nutrient recycling is important to an ecosystem. Groups design an experiment to determine how environmental conditions affect decomposition. They develop a poster...

Looking for authentic hands-on nutritional experiments? High schoolers will perform experiments to test for the presence of vitamin C in several solutions as well as the effect of caffeine on Daphnia. They will also consider the...

Open this lesson by demonstrating the production of acidic carbon dioxide gas by activated yeast. Emerging ecologists then experiment with seashells to discover the effect of ocean acidification on shelled marine organisms. They measure...

Act out the circulation of blood in the body with an innovative activity. Kids act as either body parts or blood, and carry necessary nutrients and waste throughout different stations to represent the way that oxygen circulates. 

Students design a solution to a problem based on the Industrial Revolution. In this design lesson plan, students come up with architectural designs and present them to teachers in a simulated factory.

Moving along the line. Class members research how a conveyor belt works in order to gain background information. Groups then design a conveyor belt that will carry a piece of candy four feet and along a 90-degree turn. The groups...

Sixth graders discover the problems that early Mesototamian farmers faced while developing agriculture in the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. They design a working model that solves those unique challenges.

Space, the Final Frontier. The nine NASA-created challenges in this unit are designed to teach class members the engineering design process. Each challenge comes with teacher and student pages that can be used individually or as a...

An article about the vascular tissues inside plants provides an opportunity to assess reading comprehension. After reading the passage, kids respond to a series of comprehension questions.

Fifth graders create birch bark biting art pieces. In this aboriginal art lesson, 5th graders produce art using birch bark. Students present their art pieces and explain their designs.

Students explore the concept of electricity in this activity based unit.  In this physical science lesson, students focus on electricity and electrical engineering. The teaching unit includes 5 activities to develop students...

Introduce students to cells, and their many parts in this biology presentation. Students see that plant and animal cells have many of the same type of structures, but also have many differences as well. They will be challenged to state...

The water cycle is one of earth's most easily observable processes, but demonstrating each step within classroom walls can be a challenge. Through a series of videos and quick demonstrations, cover each aspect of the hydrologic cycle in...

Don't desert a resource on the desert! Scholars work in groups to build on their ideas from the previous lesson to design a sustainable guest village in the Saguaro National Park. Each group produces a PowerPoint presentation to share...

Young historians research the Southwest Trail, which ran through Arkansas back in the 19th century. Pupils are divided into four groups. Each group researches a pioneer who blazed the Southwest Trail. Then, the group presents an oral or...

Keep everything under control. The lesson, the 16th segment in a 22-part unit, provides a more detailed look at the parts of a plane, specifically the control surfaces. Pupils learn about the construction of the wings and the tails and...