Twelfth graders examine the impact of African American culture on the United States by inspecting Faith Ringgold's story quilts. Working in groups, they create a collective story quilt about current cultural issues. They research their...

Learners participate in a project to map their school. They measure and graph various areas around the school. Young scholars find the longitude and latitude of the school and research the school's history, and highlight special...

Play a vocabulary game with words from an article about Savion Glover's contribution to the film "Happy Feet." Then, small groups of learners design and create original movie advertisements using vivid vocabulary to give Glover the...

Students watch the series "Unforgiveable Blackness". They examine the media's response to Jack Johnson in the film. They role-play the role of reporters to compose poems of headlines.

Learners put the standard measure of clock time -- the minute -- in perspective. This lesson can be modified for virtually any grade level. They write about what they learned about a minute as a result of the activities.

Examine how industrial and residential runoff affects the bay by using online tools and resources to examine data. The key indicators of the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the factors that affect them are the main focus of...

Scholars share ideas about health topics relevant to teens. They read posts on Well, the Times health blog, and produce their own health blog featuring teen health issues. In addition, they read and discuss the article "Well: A Times...

Learners will share ideas about class mobility. They create a timeline that chronicles milestones in their own lives, and synthesize their learning by writing personal essays about their class status and aspirations for the future.

Youngsters share ideas about cultural and/or spiritual rituals by participating in a fishbowl discussion, which explores the ways rituals have changed over time. They write reflective essays about their own cultural traditions.

Young scientist explore the various positions in the debate on stem cell research and then discuss these perspectives before formulating their own positions. They must research the topic and beliefs that others have. They will also look...

Pupils read a story, boil down that story to 5 to 7 key events, create a sequencing quiz to go with the story and have their classmates take the quiz. They will the strategy of sequencing by reading various stories (that they are not...

Young writers design and publish a newsletter with articles that demonstrate knowledge of mathematical concepts. They explain mathematical procedures and basic operations in a news article format. Next, they compile several articles to...

Learners develop pamphlets for a dental health mentoring program that educates younger learners about caring for their teeth. They recall experiences at visits to dentists and consider why some students may have poor dental health.

Working in groups, young historians review a war poem written by Stephen Crane. After reviewing the poem, they present an oral interpretation of the poem and hold a panel discussion about their analysis. The panel is made up of five or...

Use art museum paintings as inspiration for your class's creative writing works. Observing the paintings closely, middle and high schoolers list details and write descriptions. Their completed stories are displayed on bulletin boards...

Facilitate a discussion in your middle school class, in which young learners talk about things they feel need to be changed. They examine Bob Dylan's The Time They Are A-Changin' and then write persuasive essays on how the world needs to...