Baylor College
What's That Food?
Get things cooking with the first instructional activity in this series on the science of food. Working in small groups, young scientists make and record observations about different mystery foods. These descriptions are then shared with...
Statistics Education Web
First Day Statistics Activity—Grouping Qualitative Data
Making groups of groups can help to organize data. Classes use statistics to group themselves using descriptive adjectives. The objective is for learners to understand that grouping qualitative data is useful when the original groups are...
Curated OER
Lesson Learned: Creating a Life Reports Project
Tap into the wisdom and knowledge of older members of the community with this New York Times plan. To warm up, learners write about and discuss advice they have been given. After reading "The Life Report," an op-ed column that asks older...
EngageNY
When Can We Reverse a Transformation? 2
The second lesson on finding inverse matrices asks class members to look for a pattern in the inverse matrix and test it to see if it works for all matrices. The teacher leads a discussion to refine the process in finding inverses,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Criminal Justice in America
The allure of true crime television shows often leads to intrigue of the criminal justice system. Using a six-unit curriculum, learners explore criminology and the justice system in the United States. Topics include the police, trial...
Journey Through the Universe
Our Solar System
Take your class on a journey through our solar system. Learners explore each planet, from Mercury to Pluto, and discuss various features that differentiate one from another. They complete activities related to the topics and discuss the...
EngageNY
Close Reading of Waiting for the Biblioburro: Finding the Main Message and Taking Notes
Expose your class to Waiting for the Biblioburro, narrative nonfiction that will act as the bridge between ficiton and informational texts to come. Class members do a close reading of the text, looking at excerpts instead of the whole...
EngageNY
Introducing Research Folders and Generating a Research Question
Take the next step in the writing process with a lesson plan geared towards the completion of writing an evidence-based essay about a rule to live by, as Bud did in Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Pupils collaborate with their...
National Geographic
Exploring Modern Human Migrations
Using maps, images, websites, and handouts, learners work to understand the nature of human migrations. They compare and contrast human migration from the past to the present, identify causes for migration, and trace migration routes on...
EngageNY
Informative Paragraph Pre-Assessment: What Is One Reason You Want the Power of Reading?
This writing pre-assessment has minimal instruction but maximum support and encouragement. It begins with a review of the book, Rain School, through a think-pair-share and small group discussion. The discussion...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Labor Unions in an Industrializing U.S.
Have class members eager to enter the workforce? They'll be glad to learn that things aren't how they used to be. Have your young historians examine then discuss four primary source images related to the negative effects of...
It's About Time
Effects of Plate Tectonics
Explore our world from within as you lead young scientists on a thrilling adventure. Pupils examine the location of plate boundaries to determine earthquake and volcano distribution around the globe and explore the cause of hot spots in...
Virginia Department of Education
Average Atomic Masses
Facilitate learning by using small objects to teach the principles of atomic mass in your science class. Pupils determine the average mass of varying beans as they perform a series of competitive experiments. They gather data and...
Curated OER
What is Life? Demonstrations & Discussion
Display seven items for your biologists to consider. Are they living or non-living? How can you tell? This is a simple outline of what you can display and questions that can be discussed as this topic is explored. One way to use this...
University of Minnesota
Whose Choice Is It Anyway?
Your taste buds may be saying Pepsi, but your brain is saying Coke! By analyzing experimental research, learners discover ways in which our brains impact decision making. They conclude with a discussion of neuromarketing and how it...
EngageNY
Overcoming Obstacles in Factoring
What do you do when factoring doesn't work? Learners complete the square when faced with quadratic expression that don't factor traditionally. They then use factoring by grouping to solve polynomial equations.
Virginia Department of Education
Radioactive Decay and Half-Life
Explain the importance of radioactive half-life as your high school biologists demonstrate the concept by performing a series of steps designed to simulate radioactive decay. Pupils use pennies to perform an experiment and gather data....
Curated OER
Things Fall Apart: Research, Writing & Presentation Project
A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few...
EngageNY
Why Do Banks Pay YOU to Provide Their Services?
How does a bank make money? That is the question at the based of a lesson that explores the methods banks use to calculate interest. Groups compare the linear simple interest pattern with the exponential compound interest pattern.
NOAA
Stressed Out!
Are our oceans really suffering due to the choices humans make? The sixth and final installment in the volume of activities challenges research groups to tackle one of six major topics that impact ocean health. After getting to the...
Curated OER
The Odyssey and The Morte Darthur: Reading and Making Observations for Writing and Discussion
Young scholars read "The Odyssey" and "The Morte Darthur". In groups, they research the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology and the history of the places mentioned in the stories. Individually, they are to write a paper about a hero...
NOAA
What Killed the Seeds?
Can a coral cure cancer? Take seventh and eighth grade science sleuths to the underwater drugstore for an investigation into emerging pharmaceutical research. The fifth installment in a series of six has classmates research the wealth of...
C3 Teachers
Reparations: Why Are Reparations Controversial?
To understand why the topic of reparations is controversial, young scholars gather background information by reading articles, watching videos, and examining cases where reparations were made. Learners consider the lasting repercussions...
Colorado State University
What Makes a Gas, a Greenhouse Gas?—The Carbon Dioxide Dance
Investigate a heated topic in environmental science. Scholars team up to play the parts of gas molecules in the atmosphere. As the teacher moves about, acting as the electromagnetic wave, learners react as their molecules would to the...