The Best of the Best

Should school and professional teams test athletes for sickle cell trait? Will it protect them by providing knowledge or lead to discrimination by not allowing them to participate in sports? After learning about this genetic disorder,...

How far in the past do the roots of Jim Crow and segregation extend? Young historians closely consider this question using detailed PowerPoint slides as a basis for discussion rather than lecture, culminating in an activity where class...

Five segements from Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, easily accessed on the PBS website, are at the center of a terrific short unit on the roots of America's ambivalent relationship with alcohol. Engage your secondary class...

Students discuss disabilities. In this "Best Buddies" lesson, students take a look at programs that help people with disabilities and discover what role those people play in those programs. They work in pairs to explore the "Best...

Curse words, vulgar words, swear words, bad words. Why are some words labeled as inappropriate? Check out this short history of taboo words and their significance.

Do you ever have a moment where you can't get the words in your head to come out precisely? Or do you mix up words that sound similar? For some of us, these are simple errors in communicating, but for others, this is called aphasia. View...

Engaging in topical discussions can be a great way to teach kids how to build strong arguments and support their opinions with concrete evidence. High schoolers choose a controversial topic, build an argument for or against that topic,...

Some words are best left unspoken.  Words matter, according to Benjamin Zander, conductor, teacher, and lecturer. To illustrate his point, Zander recounts a story told to him by a survivor of Auschwitz. As a result of her experience this...

Does the psychology of teams shut down open-minded thinking? According to psychologist Jonathan Haidt, the key to civility and open-minded discussion in our highly polarized society may be understanding our inherent moral roots. Haidt...

Learners read a story called Athletes Need to Make the Grade to Play and answer vocabulary and comprehension questions about it. In this current events college athletes and academics lesson plan, student respond to literature by...