"African Phoenix" is a poem with strong imagery and voice. The class will read two poems then draw an image of what they feel the poems mean. This is a good way to spark critical analysis.

High schoolers study the legal battles involving same-sex marriage. They examine primary sources and a video regarding the 14th amendment and its implications for gay marriage. They analyze a report of a California case that was sent to...

How is fixing a flat tire like reading and writing? By thinking about each activity properly - identifying the problem and purpose, gathering information, and making inferences - you can exercise your thinking skills equally. This...

The lesson starts out with a brain drain, which is a great way to get students to activate prior knowledge and build lasting connections. They tell everything they know about prime factorization, use their knowledge to...

Research how DNA, the genetic blueprint of living organisms, plays an essential role in the continuity of life. High schoolers will summarize how their influence may very well effect the destiny of the population from one generation to...

Get your young scientists excited about geology through the study of dinosaur tracks! They will use their power of observation to learn how tracks are made and use critical thinking strategies to suggest a scenario in which they were...

Review the concept of cause and effect with this colorful and easy to understand presentation. This series of slides enforces the concept of cause and effect by offering a variety of examples. A great way to get your students thinking.

Middle schoolers participate in a simulation that underscores the importance of time management. The activity stresses the importance of organization, setting priorities, goal setting, and developing and maintaining a schedule.

Quality relationships don't just happen. They require nurturing, patience, thoughtful communication, and honesty. Help tweens develop these relationship skills with an activity that asks them to themselves and then outline a...

Asking questions about what you're reading is an effective way to connect with the text. After kids read passages from Kyoko Mori's Shizuko's Daughter, they identify questions about the passages as Right There, Think and...

Can you judge a book by its cover? Decide who and what Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is about with a prediction activity. Before reading the first three chapters of the book, kids answer questions based on their interpretation...

Help your pupils find some direction with a career research project. Individuals research three careers, using the included graphic organizers to record their findings. They then create a visual aid on a computer and present their...

Teach vocabulary in this quick game to vocabulary skills game. Divide the class into two groups, give them clues to a particular word, each team has sixty seconds to identify the vocabulary word. Words can be arranges to include...

Kids can consider the types of jobs people did during WWII. They'll look at six different images of people working. They then answer two to three questions to determine what job is being shown. Tip: Have learners pick out evidence from...

This lesson starts out with a guided discussion about the statement "Birds fly in the sky; airplanes fly in the sky; therefore, airplanes are birds" and goes on to cover logical fallacies and reliable sources, relating these to the topic...

Analogy exercises are a great way to build vocabulary and critical thinking skills. To select the pair of words that represents the same relationship as the initial pair, learners are instructed to construct a bridge sentence that...

Great Britain was where the industrial revolution began. The class reads an excerpt from a document written in 1835 describing cotton manufacture in Great Britain. They then answer two critical analysis questions. 

The dialect words for types of food from across the British Isles get pupils thinking about native dialects and how they differ from Standard English. Class members create a dialect dictionary and discuss the difference between accent...

In collaborative groups, young US historians sort cards (each labeled with a single early American event or issue) according to which of the first four presidents was leading the country at the time. Learners copy the events onto a...

Examine the Supreme Court case, District of Columbia vs Heller, to build a better understanding of the Bill of Rights. Learners visit three different websites, read the provided informational text, and then answer a series of critical...

Each of the slides in this presentation provide learners with an image found at a northwestern art museum and a critical analysis of what can be seen in each piece. Learners can view this prior to a museum trip in order to build...

Assist your learners as they unravel the wonders of lyric analysis. This resource breaks down the analysis process by hook, verse, and chorus. Each is briefly defined and is used to look at any song's lyrics in a systematic way.

Upper elementary and middles schoolers discuss and solve real world applications of math. They use formulas for volume and percents to answer real world questions. In the second part of the lesson, groups write and solve word problems....

Students explore a framework of political and social values to evaluate the validity of any public policy debate, bill, or law. They participate in cooperative learning in terms of the group investigation model.