Students inquire into how the center of mass is the key factor in designing cars. They construct an oddly shaped object and determine its center of mass. They find that engineers are able to predict how objects will behave while they are...

Students investigate the process of constructing a bridge. They study the meaning of structural force and draw pictures of examples. Students identify the types of building materials have been used in history to construct bridges and how...

Students understand the differences in communities by reading "City Mouse, Country Mouse" by Isabelle Chantellard. In this types of communities activity, students find that although communities are different, one is not better than the...

Students determine the identity of the three classes of levers while explaining how each works. They wait a video clip that shows uses for different types of levers and work as a class to write a KWL chart. Finally, they make a model fo...

Learners ask testable questions. They explain the relationship between insect behavior and insect trapping techniques. Students design their own insect traps to collect a new unknown insect, in the same way that entomologists collect the...

You can eat a solar cell? A unit on solar energy begins with a discussion about organic solar cells, followed by directions on how to build your own. After following the teacher's directions to build an anthocyanin...

Focus on plot and the impact-specific events in The Cay. Class members use their double-entry journals, created in a previous lesson in this series, to record their thinking about the guiding question as they read chapters 15 through 17....

Study heart health and math in one activity. After measuring their resting heart rates by finding the pulse in their wrists, learners build a stethoscope to listen to their heart rate, and note the differences between the two methods.

Encourage your learners to examine the setting in Theodore Taylor's The Cay. Pupils work in small groups to put together a description of the setting before reading two more chapters of the book. They use their double-entry journals to...

Help prepare your youngsters for an emergency or natural disaster by discussing important topics as where to meet, how to remain in contact, and what belongs in an emergency kit. 

Who eats who in the savannas of Africa? Explore trophic levels with part four of an eight-part series of lessons focused around Gorongosa National Park. After young explorers identify animals using trailcam images, they construct a food...

Scholars collect data from heating sand and water before forming testable hypotheses about why sand heats up faster. Afterward, they develop and run experiments to test their hypotheses.

Class members are challenged to design a device that will move a circus elephant into a train car. Groups brainstorm ideas that use simple machines to load the elephant. They then choose one of their ideas, sketch a plan, and present it...

No matter the age of your sewing pupils, they will enjoy these activities and projects that develop basic sewing machine use, following patterns, and finally creating a fun project of their own. 

While creating models from data, pupils make decisions about precision. Exercises are provided that require linear, quadratic, or exponential models based upon the desired precision. 

Tropical fish make great art projects! Use paper plates to design, color, and assemble round and oval-shaped fish based on photographs of actual fish found along the Moorea Coral Reef. Kids learn about different fins- including the...

High school scholars learn valuable information about how to run a newspaper in the third and final installment of a media literacy series. The unit scaffolds learners to success with background information before they plan for...

Young scholars build a strong understanding of medial sounds, vowels, and letter sound correspondence while playing Bingo. Taking turns, peers choose a card and say its name and medial sound; all players look for the vowel on their card....

Start communicating in American Sign Language with this handy app. Made up of a series of video clips, the app makes it easy to begin really saying something with your hands.

Connect the points to create a function. Using points given by the applet, pupils try to connect them to create a line that would pass the vertical line test. The resource keeps track of the number of sets the learner is able to identify...

Celebrate April's National Poetry Month or enrich a poetry unit with a wealth of language arts material. Class members develop an oral interpretation of a poem and/or develop a podcast interview with a poet. 

Benjamin Franklin identified 13 virtues that he felt would strengthen his character if he could focus on each one. A thorough instructional activity explores high schoolers' personal values in the context of their lives, and compels them...

Pregnant women exposed to PAH air pollution increase the risk of obesity in their children. The example of epigenetics, along with others, builds the basis for understanding the process of cell differentiation. Scholars view a video,...

Get kids re-oriented to the computer lab for back-to-school. The constructivist approach in this session allows children to exert ownership of their behavior in the computer lab. Read aloud a few books about good and poor manners, as...