Curated OER
Social Studies Wonders: An Exploration
Help middle schoolers conduct Internet research and develop a working definition for the discipline of social studies. From a list of websites, they develop classification skills and differentiate between primary and secondary sources....
Curated OER
Red Riding Hood in China
Inspire young writers to compose their own version of the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood." They begin by reading "Little Red Riding Hood" and the Chinese version <i>Lon Po Po</i>, then they compare and contrast the two...
Curated OER
That's the Spirit
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...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Color Variation over Time in Rock Pocket Mouse Populations
A species-specific look at natural selection, the resource herein examines how adaptations have helped the population of rock pocket mice survive in a changing landscape. To begin, middle or high schoolers watch a 10.5 minute video,...
The New York Times
Super Brand
Children can recognize popular brands from an early age, but these images symbolize much more than what they advertise. Take a journey through the design of a logo with a lesson plan that focuses on the history and ubiquity of the Super...
Berkeley Lab
Virtual Frog Dissection Kit
Fluffy is one of the most common names for a pet frog. Fluffy, the digitized frog in this dissection kit, opens up quite literally to allow scholars to see what's inside. The basic kit encourages pupils to click on various organs to see...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Old Man and the Sea Ernest Hemingway
Accompany a reading of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a thorough literature packet. Although the materials are meant to prepare readers for a timed essay, the background information and the activities are...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
The depth of Nineteen Eighty Four is in the details. Encourage a close reading of Orwell's dystopian classic with resource sheets that focus attention on the author's stylistic choices that lead to the betrayals that make Big Brother's...
College Board
AP® Psychology Cognition and Language
I can remember what happened five years ago, but I can't recall what I did last week! High school psychology students analyze how memory, cognition, and language impact one another. Hands-on activities, memory exercises, and research...
College Board
Balance of Power Between Congress and the President
Three branches of government help create a system of checks and balances. A helpful resource provides a series of articles regarding the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of government. Historians answer...
Curated OER
Affine Recurrence Plotter
Learners use the on-line affine recurrence plotter to graph equations. They work on-line to create graphs of trout in a trout pond and savings account balances when interest is compounded over time. Links to the four one-day lessons are...
Curated OER
Building a House
Study the different materials needed to build a house. Kindergartners and first graders read five sentence frames, and match the phrases that describe wood planks, glass, and clay. An experiment prompts kids to test different types of...
Curated OER
Does It Move On It's Own?
Young scientists look at drawings of six animals, then match up a word that describes how they move. The words are: hop, crawl, swim, fly, run, and jump. They also answer two additional questions about the animals and how they move. A...
American Statistical Association
Bear Hugs
Scholars research arm span to determine who gives the best bear hugs. They use data from a national study to find the standard statistics for arm span. It includes mean, median, quartiles, spread, standard deviation, and more.
American Statistical Association
How Long is 30 Seconds?
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...
American Statistical Association
How Tall and How Many?
Is there a relationship between height and the number of siblings? Classmates collect data on their heights and numbers of brothers and sisters. They apply statistical methods to determine if such a relationship exists.
American Statistical Association
Scatter It! (Using Census Results to Help Predict Melissa’s Height)
Pupils use the provided census data to guess the future height of a child. They organize and plot the data, solve for the line of best fit, and determine the likely height and range for a specific age.
American Statistical Association
Tell it Like it is!
Scholars apply prior knowledge of statistics to write a conclusion. They summarize using correct academic language and tell the story of the data.
American Statistical Association
What is the Probability of “Pigging Out”
Learners apply their understanding of luck to a probability experiment. They play a game of Pass the Pigs to determine the probability of a specific outcome. Using analysis for their data, pupils declare the measures of center, dot...
American Statistical Association
Exploring Geometric Probabilities with Buffon’s Coin Problem
Scholars create and perform experiments attempting to answer Buffon's Coin problem. They discover the relationships between geometry and probability, empirical and theoretical probabilities, and area of a circle and square.
American Statistical Association
Armspans
Young mathematicians collect data on the arm spans of classmates. Then they sort the data by measures of center, spread, and standard deviation. Finally, they compare groups, such as boys and girls, to interpret any differences.
American Statistical Association
Chocolicious
To understand how biased data is misleading, learners analyze survey data and graphical representations. They use that information to design their own plans to collect information on consumer thoughts about Chocolicious cereal.
American Statistical Association
Colors Challenge!
Does writing the name of a color in a different colored ink affect one's ability to read it? Scholars design an experiment to answer this question. They collect the data, analyze the statistics, and draw a conclusion based on...
Statistics Education Web
How High Can You Jump?
How high can your pupils jump? Learners design an experiment to answer this question. After collecting the data, they create box plots and scatter plots to analyze the data. To finish the lesson, they use the data to draw conclusions.