Students investigate four main issues of concern between US and Japan prior to US involvement in World War II. In this role play lesson, students will take the role of US and Japanese negotiators trying to find a diplomatic solution to...

Learners read and discuss the Enemy Alien Evacuation Order. They perform research by reading newspaper articles from February 1942 as well as investigating available information on the Internet. Students work in groups to create a...

Design and construct buildings with rooftop gardens. Junior engineers work in groups to build two buildings and then perform experiments to determine whether or not a garden affects the building's temperatures. They graph and interpret...

Demonstrate how the Skywatch website works, locating your city via The International Space Station. Have cooperative groups use string and a protractor to identify an azimuth. When each groups' height has been marked, you will have a...

Review concepts of cloning and genetic engineering and participate in a round-table discussion based on the ethics and potential of cloning with your class. Each learner then writes a formal essay on the topic, stemming from the debate.

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...

What could be more relevant to teens and preteens than experiencing stress? Use an article from the New York Times website to practice valuable Common Core skills for informational text reading, and also get a discussion going in your...

Students explain the electronic preparation and transmission of tax returns. They describe the ways to prepare and transmit tax returns and explain the benefits of electronic tax return preparation and transmission.

Was James Monroe the sole contributor of the Monroe Doctrine? Young scholars study the doctrine and cite evidence to show contributions of John Quincy Adams and Thomas Jefferson in its formulation.

Unscramble a carnival mystery! Scholars observe a video of an overhead view of a carnival ride, The Scrambler. They then must determine mathematically where a specific car will stop after a certain amount of time.

Develop probability distributions from simulations. Young mathematicians use simulations to collect data. They use the data to draw graphs of probability distributions for the random variable in question.

Mmmmm! Radioactive "candium!" Nuclear physics or chemistry classes use M&M'S® to demonstrate the process of radioactive decay. Individuals pour out a bag of candies and record the number that fall M-side-up to represent the...

After reading about biomedical engineering and properties of materials, collaborative groups design a cast for setting a broken bone. They test for stability and mass, and then communicate their invention by creating a poster. This...

Young scientists explore some of the scientific equipment that is used by explorers during expeditions to the North or South Pole. Then, they have a relay race! All of the equipment is lined up at a spot 25 yards away from the lines. The...

Ordering numbers just got physical! Learners practice putting numbers in sequence, both in fraction and decimal form. To begin, they line up in birthday order and discuss the difference between ascending and descending. They are then...

Students explore the contributions of Lyndon B. Johnson. In this congress lesson, students listen to their instructor lecture on the prowess of Lyndon B. Johnson's legislative skills. Students respond to discussion questions connected to...

This scripted activity suggests using the journalist’s five W’s (who, what, when, where, why) to teach readers how to summarize a story and to how to distinguish between significant and supporting details. A template and rubric are...

Hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical cyclones are the same type of storm, but their names change based on where they happen. Scholars use a computer simulation to learn about hurricanes. Then they hypothesize ideas to prevent hurricanes...

Students discover the dangers of landfills to our environment by investigating leachate.  In this environmental lesson, students create a model landfill experiment in which they observe the effect of rain on a landfill over the...

Students create unique sounds using different instruments.  In this energy lesson, students read and define several vocabulary terms such as heat, energy transfer and thermal equilibrium.  Students utilize several household...

Students investigate Internet privacy by discussing ideas with their classmates.  In this personal information lesson, students listen to a teacher tell them their every move will be watched as part of a research activity at school....

Students recognize that the Russian government has ordered the British Council to close their operations in Russia, probably due to worsening relations between the two countries. They act as negotiators for either the British Council or...

Students listen to a story about Rosa Parks and examine the bus seating rules of the 1950s. In this civil rights movement lesson, the teacher reads students a book about Rosa Parks, then students complete a worksheet with a diagram of...

Students examine the constitutionality of various forms of expression; they then take part in a mock trial on the issue of cross burning. Divide the class into three groups; Supreme Court Justices, and two groups that don't agree on this...