Pacific Science Center
Worlds in Comparison
Young astronomers follow a step-by-step procedure for dividing a lump of dough into parts, resulting in a scaled volume set of puny planets. Along with the printable directions is a template chart of planet names on which learners can...
Illustrative Mathematics
Floor Plan
A multi-step problem has learners finding the actual area based on a scale drawing and then converting units at the end. Two different solution choices are listed depending on the preference on which step to start first. Both methods can...
Oleh Yudin
iCrosss
Did you know that a soccer ball is very similar to a truncated icosahedron? Both have 32 faces, but while a truncated icosahedron is made up solely of flat hexagons, a traditional soccer ball has 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons, each curved...
Illustrative Mathematics
Extending the Definitions of Exponents, Variation 1
Scientist work with negative integer exponents all the time. Here, participants will learn how to relate negative exponents to time and to generate equivalent numerical expressions. Learners will apply the properties of integer exponents...
Illustrative Mathematics
Quinoa Pasta 1
Here is a great opportunity to introduce your mathematicians to a food they may never have heard of, quinoa. It may help to show a short video on quinoa, or make some quinoa for the class to try. Once they get over how to say quinoa,...
Illustrative Mathematics
Video Streaming
Your movie fans will be interested in this resource. They will compare video streaming plans. One plan charges a set rate per month and a reduced viewing fee, and the other has a flat rate per each video viewed. Unfortunately, students...
Illustrative Mathematics
Riding by the Library
Draw a graph that shows the qualitative features of a function that has been described verbally. Make sure learners understand where time is zero and the distance is zero. It may take them some time to understand this concept, so working...
Illustrative Mathematics
Foxes and Rabbits 1
Here is where algebra learners begin to understand that a function is a rule, and for each input there is exactly one output. The commentary gets bogged down with information about the predator-prey relationship between the fox and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Delivering the Mail
A mail truck travels the same amount of miles per day. It will be up to your algebra learners to find an equation for this mailman’s truck. One needs a good understanding of rate of change and the initial value for this model. The...
Curated OER
Translate Word Phrases and Sentences into Equations
Use this video to show your learners an example of how to translate word phrases into an equation to solve a real-world problem. The presenter begins with a review of how to use cross products to solve a proportion, including how to do...
North Carolina Standard Curriculum
Rhythm Counting
Understanding time signatures and rhythm counting are two very important parts of playing an instrument well. Here are three basic lessons rolled into one that prompt upper graders to play their instruments with care. They'll practice...
Nature
Structural Hazards
The scientific explanation of seismic waves is detailed in the introduction. A fictional scenario is also provided for your class to discuss. Pictures and handouts that are meant to be included, however, they are not accessible....
Curated OER
The Catcher in the Rye: Biopoem
Here’s a catchy way to study characterization. Readers of The Catcher in the Rye select a character from Salinger’s classic tale to use as the subject of a biopoem. A teacher sample is provided.
Curated OER
Introduction to Conics
Just exactly where does the name conic come from? This brief hands-on exploration explains it all. Have your class cut cones to create their own conics, then assess their understanding with a few identification problems. Consider making...
Discovery of Sound in the Sea
How to Build a Hydrophone
The materials and procedures for building a hydrophone, an underwater sound collecting device, are provided in this resource. Have high school oceanographers construct the underwater microphone to pick up sound waves. Then take them out...
NY Learns
Taxes and Social Security
In an effort to help prepare teens for the realities of taxes, the teacher fills out a sample 1040EZ while it's projected for the class to see. This is part of a unit on taxes and social security that culminates in a 50+ question test...
Green Learning
Build Your Own Biogas Generator
Where this is not exactly a lesson plan, it is a terrific outline of how to generate biogas from an animal manure sample. If you are up for the challenge, the generator can be built by your class as a concluding project at the end of an...
San Francisco Symphony
Lesson Ideas for Any Music
Music is a wonderful tool you can add to enhance the learning process for every subject. Here is a list of music selections that are categorized by subject, along with some neat teaching suggestions. You'll find songs suited to...
Acoustical Society of America
Anatomy of a Wave
Pair physical science learners up, and have one describe a transverse wave while the other blindly attempts to draw it. Then reveal an actual diagram and explain the different parts of the wave: crest, trough, wavelength. Though most of...
Curated OER
Narrative Structure: Les Miserables
What is the initiating event? What is the protagonist's goal? What attempts are made to achieve this goal? What is the outcome? Model for your class how to map out the structure of any narrative. Readers then search for answers as the...
BBC
Rights and Responsibilities
Middle and high schoolers engage in a instructional activity about rights and responsibilities, and the differences between them. After a class discussion, pupils break off into pairs and come up with mimes that respect or abuse a...
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association
A Research Project: A Discussion of the Recreating and Populating of a Colonial Village
Primary source research, secondary source readings, and discussion provide the understanding necessary for students to create a colonial persona, and simulate a situation appropriate for this person, time, and place. While the lesson...
Curated OER
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Semantic Feature Analysis
Racist, independent, conflicted? Readers of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn brainstorm words that describe the traits of characters in Twain’s novel and then rate these qualities in several of their favorite characters. Individuals...
Curated OER
Fever 1793: Anticipation Guide
Introduce the themes of Fever 1793 and determine your class members’ level of background knowledge with an anticipation guide for Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel about the yellow fever epidemic that swept Philadelphia. For each prompt,...