While the European Union has been a part of economic landscape for decades, it grew out of a period of economic integration after World War II. Using a round table method, class members analyze and discuss the events leading up to the...

Eighth graders gather and use information on a chosen topic for a hypothetical research paper. They use organizational features of printed text, the Internet, and other media to locate information and choose a specific topic.

Students participate in an online scavenger hunt using the parts of a book to locate information. In this reference materials lesson, students locate the title, subtitle, table of contents and glossary. Students then create...

Young scholars list all the ways humans use trees and tree by products. In this lesson students watch a video, discuss the impact trees have on humans, and research common products made from trees. The young scholars use their findings...

Young scholars are able to answer basic questions about the region and the use of natural resources, sketch a mental map of the story's setting, and find their way through the thematic maze/map.

Students explore how their senses work. In this senses instructional activity, students use the sense of smell to observe various spices. Students discuss their findings.

Seventh graders identify how to use sterile techniques when identifying plant pathogens.  In this plant diseases lesson students complete a lab activity in which they see how plant diseases are identified and classified.

How can you put a passage in your own words without changing the meaning of the original text? That is the question facing many young researchers. The advice modeled in this presentation is that writers read the passage carefully,...

Get the trig facts fast, and use the review sheet as a guide in the classroom. The worksheet also includes a document version if any changes are needed to the problems. The information includes a small degree/radian chart, a graph of all...

Did you know that if you wait long enough, the M on the outside of an M and M will float to the surface when submerged in water? Learners observe the sugar coating of an M and M while it is dissolving in water. They explain how this...

Groups use a Venn diagram to compare the theme of love and loss in Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address to Stanford University students and Christopher Paul Curtis' Bud, Not Buddy.

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, considered by many to be a seminal piece of American literature, contains many complex literary themes that carry through United States history. Use a series of discussion questions and classroom...

Should age matter when it comes to voting? Scholars read an article discussing the pros and cons of lowering the voting age to 16. They then consider both the advantages and disadvantages of having younger voters. After thinking about...

What do you need to cite, and how can you avoid plagiarizing? This presentation is aimed at beginning writers, and it details some of the ways people plagiarize (even accidentally) and what sort of information needs to be cited. The...

What's one way to make a good essay great? Revise! Scholars revise their drafts from a previous lesson plan to help write their final polished analytical essays about the universal refugee experience. They also practice properly citing...

Support children with finding meaning in unknown words using this graphic organizer. While reading a piece of writing, learners identify unfamiliar words, using context clues and reference materials to find and record definitions before...

"Bullying and Prejudice" and "Do You Cyber Bully," two lessons from a complete Bully Free program, serve as samples of the approach used in a unit designed to bring awareness to and to combat bullying. Each lesson asks class...

What was the most significant tool used by the Chumash? How did the environment make the tool possible? What group behaviors allowed the Chumash be be successful for thousands of years? After watching West of the West's documentary Once...

The Scarlet Letter may be a classic, but keeping high schoolers engaged in the reading of Hawthorne's vocabulary, syntax, imagery, and historical references presents it own set of challenges. Here's a guide that offers readers...

A biography writing lesson plan with a tasty twist! Kids create a "visual biography" in which each pizza slice represents a paragraph, and toppings represent supporting details. They learn research techniques, note-taking skills, and how...

What experiences lead people to change and how do they do it? After reading about Cole's encounter with Touching Spirit Bear, readers complete the second out of a series of five activities to predict future events in the text. The...

What cultural concepts must readers understand in order to connect to Things Fall Apart? As part of their study of Chinua Achebe’s novel, class members research Nigeria and the Igbo culture to create a collaborative, web-based,...

Through direct instruction, the teacher demonstrates how to identify the main idea and supporting details of a text when creating a summary. As a class, read a paragraph, highlighting relevant information and crossing out extraneous...

Identify the main idea and the supporting details of a story in a literacy resource from Discovery Education. Complete with procedures, vocabulary, and assessment activities, this is a great way for pupils to practice their outlining...