University of Southern California
Human Impact on the Sea
How far does the human hand reach? Five interactive lessons lead classes through a unit exploring the human impact on ocean resources, pollution, and even extinction. Learners discover how their decisions affect the ocean...
Core Knowledge Foundation
Year 4: Julius Caesar and Imperial Rome
The study of the life of Julius Caesar can be divided into three parts: his early life and military successes, his reign as dictator, and the rise of the Roman Empire after his death. Young scholars demonstrate their mastery of the facts...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Natural and Human Causes
Part three in the series of seven has pupils discussing the different greenhouses gases, learning about the carbon cycle, and then watching a short video about the carbon cycle. Based on their knowledge, individuals complete a greenhouse...
PBS
An Attack on Syria- What Would You Do?
Has United States military intervention in the conflicts of other countries always been warranted? After reviewing a brief background on contemporary US conflicts and reading articles describing the civil war in Syria, your learners...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Problematic Situation
Prior to reading Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members are presented with a problematic situation and to rate their responses as well as predict the responses of a character from the novel.
US National Library of Medicine
Science and Society: Preventing the Spread of Disease
Looking for a valuable resource on the spread of infectious diseases? Here is a lesson plan in which pupils simulate the spread of diseases and learn about how to prevent them from spreading. Class members read case studies about...
Kenan Fellows
Let's Learn About Stewardship and River Basins
What does it mean to be a good steward? Middle school environmentalists learn to care for their state's waterways through research, a guest speaker, and poster activity. Groups must locate and learn more about a river basin and the human...
National Park Service
Making Choices
What factors go into a decision to enter a war? Use a collection of primary source documents and images to prompt a discussion about the American Revolution and the reasons for entering a war against Britain.
American Chemical Society
Man and Materials Through History
From the start of the Industrial Revolution, it only took 147 years for someone to invent plastic. This may seem like a long time, but in the history of inventing or discovering new materials, this is incredibly fast. An informative and...
American Chemical Society
Joseph Priestley, Discoverer of Oxygen
Do you want to hear a joke about nitrogen and oxygen? NO. We all know there is oxygen in the air and that plants produce oxygen, but how was it discovered? Scholars read a handout, answer questions, and analyze material in the...
Anglophone School District
Fluids: Force in Fluids
Discuss Archimedes' Principle and fluid forces with your young scientists as they describe the relationship between mass, volume, and density during a series of engaging activities. They use the Participle Theory of Matter to explore the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Tossing Cylinders
Everyone loves a lesson that involves throwing things around! To understand probability, your experimenters will predict how different cylinder-shaped objects will land when tossed. When the data is collected, they will calculate the...
PHET
Where to See an Aurora
Where can you see an aurora in North America? After completing an astronomy activity, scholars can locate the exact coordinates. Pupils plot points of the inner and outer ring of the auroral oval and answer questions based on...
University of Colorado
Terra Bagga
Earth's magnetic poles switch positions about every 200,000—300,000 years. In the activity, groups create a planet with a magnetic field. Once made, they use a magnetometer to determine the orientation of the planet's magnetic field....
University of Southern California
Mastering Microbes
Small but mighty! Learners explore the role of microbes in a healthy ecosystem. An engaging lesson asks pupils to design an aquaponics system that demonstrates that healthy microbes are necessary to maintain the ecosystem.
Cornell University
The Galvanic Cell Game
Play a little game with your classes! Young scholars expand on their understanding of oxidation/reduction reactions in a game-based activity. They build a Galvanic cell with game pieces while learning about each component and their...
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education
Salads
Lettuce talk for a moment about your culinary scholars; do they have what it takes to create a great salad? Show them the finer points of salad preparation with a career and technology instructional activity that combines direct...
Kenan Fellows
Man vs. Beast: Approximating Derivatives using Human and Animal Movement
What does dropping a ball look like as a graph? An engaging activity asks learners to record a video of dropping a ball and uploading the video to software for analysis. They compare the position of the ball to time and calculate the...
Alliance Theater
The Jungle Book Post-Show STEAM Lesson
An ecosystem is really just the flow of energy through many different living organisms. A study of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book leads to an environmental science activity in which learners study how various factors can affect...
University of Colorado
Can Photosynthesis Occur at Saturn?
In the 19th activity of 22, learners determine if distance from a light source affects photosynthesis. Participants capture oxygen in straws and find that the amount of water the gas displaces is proportional to the rate of photosynthesis.
Curated OER
Maniac Magee: The Cloze Procedure
Fill in the blanks with a Cloze activity based on Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. After listening to a passage read out loud, kids complete the worksheet by using their memories and context clues.
Illustrative Mathematics
Lines of Symmetry for Quadrilaterals
Explore how lines of symmetry help define different categories of quadrilaterals. Looking at a square, rectangle, trapezoid, and parallelogram, young mathematicians discover that each shape has its own, unique symmetry. Encourage your...
School Improvement in Maryland
Political Systems: Advantages and Disadvantages
Every political system has advantages and disadvantages. To gain an understanding of these differences, groups investigate the political system of another country—oligarchy, monarchy, dictatorship, parliamentary—and prepare a...
University of Colorado
Is There Life on Earth?
To find life on another planet, scientists look for gases (atmosphere), water, and temperatures that are not extreme. In this activity, groups of pupils become "Titan-ians," scientists who want to explore Earth for possible life forms....