Students understand the tools that will be used in the lab in the 21st century. In this job preparation lesson, students experiment and understand how to use lab equipment. Students will write about the lab tools they've experimented...

What is an emergency, why is preparing for one important, and how can your pupils help others prepare for an emergency? Answer these questions and more with a short unit. Learners will participate in a variety of collaborative,...

Criticism of news and entertainment journalism is at an all-time high. Help 21st-century learners develop the media literacy skills they need to become critical consumers with a three-lesson guide the looks at persuasive techniques used...

Students discover world geography by writing persuasive letters. In this literacy instructional activity, students discuss what percentage of children are illiterate in our country compared to other geographic locations. Students...

Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...

Follow Texas history from Native Americans all the way to the 21st Century. Teachers analyze the creation of a year-long course on Texas history and use a wide range of teaching subjects and materials to guide them through the state's...

If only a mask could talk! Using the interactive tool along with historical thinking skills, pupils uncover the meaning behind the various materials the resource presents. History becomes more relevant as the artifacts tell their stories...

Merge technology and wellness. Class members complete inquiry-based research on a personal wellness issue and create an annotated bibliography, uploading their completed work to their personal wellness websites. Prior to beginning, your...

How many noodles long is your classroom? Find out when engineers of all ages explore measurement through the use of pool noodles. With the noodles pre-cut to certain metric lengths, the activities could be used to introduce the metric...

Sixth graders are introduced to artifacts and explore an online archaeological site to  connect clues about how people once lived. For this deductive reasoning lesson, 6th graders participate in the stratigraphy game on Kids Dig...

Trace Columbus' voyages by locating them on 21st Century maps.  Using a navigators lesson, 4th graders will examine the Age of Exploration and trace Columbus's routes accurately on laminated world maps using different maps. Note:...

What does a secret agent really do? After reading an article, students discover the connection between intelligence and espionage. Using the Internet, they will research the history and motivations of intelligence agencies throughout the...

Don't get your classes all shook up about plate movement, instead use a thorough unit that guides learners to an understanding of plate tectonics. The lessons incorporate a study of the types of plate boundaries and their effects on the...

Eighth graders examine and analyze maps of early Nebraska. Using the maps, they compare and contrast them to those of today and identifying how the area has changed over time. They complete a worksheet over the differences in the maps...

While the Industrial Revolution may have fueled America's rise to the top of world markets, the child laborers often faced dangerous conditions. Using primary source images and other information, scholars consider what these children...

How important is momentum? Pupils investigate and apply the definition of momentum as they conduct analyses during a series of one-dimensional collisions. They infer the relative masses of two objects by carefully staging and predicting...

How does the Earth continually repair itself? Explore the answer to this question, and others, with a unit on plate boundaries and interaction. Pupils classify the types of movement at plate boundaries and identify the...

Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...

Help young researchers find credible sources online. Modeling with a Google search for information about Shakespeare’s Macbeth, use a computer projector or Smart Board to show class members how weak the top three search results are....

Students view different slides on how agriculture has changed in America. In groups, they are given one resource to read and answer discussion quesions. After reviewing answers, they participate in different scenerios to help protect...

Traveling through space is an amazing experience, but it definitely takes a toll on the body. After reading an article and watching a brief video, learners perform an experiment that simulates the effects of zero gravity on the...

When astronauts get hungry in outer space, they can't just call and have a pizza delivered. In order to gain an appreciation for the challenges associated with space travel, young learners are given the task of selecting,...

A great idea for showing language arts pupils the universality of themes, even in the real world! Have class members choose an idea-noun (peace, justice, war, love, etc.) at the beginning of the year or semester. They complete weekly...

From their sweat to the water vapor in their breath, astronauts recycle every possible drop of water while in space. After watching a short video describing the different ways materials are recycled and reused in space...