EngageNY
TASC Transition Curriculum: Workshop 12
How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...
Curated OER
Using the Internet to Challenge Young Writers
Designed as a professional development exercise to introduce teachers to the Internet, the activities in this resource ask novice web surfers to access a series of sites, bookmark them, and answer question about information found on the...
Curated OER
Maniac Magee: Life Without Problems
Young readers discuss how they would deal with problems faced by the main character in Maniac Magee. They write down their own problems and exchange them with others to analyze and provide possible solutions. They establish a "Dear Abby"...
Baylor College
Modeling Earth's Atmosphere
Life on Earth is made possible by the unique composition of its atmosphere. Working collaboratively, a scale model is created as young scientists learn about the different layers of gas that surround the planet. Cards are included that...
Baylor College
What Makes Water Special?
Get close up and personal with a drop of water to discover how the polarity of its molecules affect its behavior. Elementary hydrologists split and combine water droplets, and also compare them to drops of oil. Much neater than placing a...
Baylor College
Dust Catchers
In class, your emerging environmentalists construct dust catchers. They take them home for a week or two, and then bring them back into class to examine under a magnifier. From this activity, they learn what makes up dust and that...
Baylor College
Moving Air
In lab groups, young scientists place aluminum cans with a bubble-solution cap into different temperatures of water to see what size of bubble dome forms. As part of an atmosphere unit in preparation for learning about convection...
Baylor College
Rainbow in the Room
Uncover the science behind the beautiful phenomena of rainbows with a simple demonstration. Shine light through different-sized containers of water as young scientists learn that rainbows occur when visible light is split up into its...
Baylor College
Fossil Fuels and the Carbon Cycle
Humans are quickly depleting Earth's fossil fuels and locating them is becoming increasingly difficult! Layered muffins are used for models as young geologists take core samples in order to determine the presence of oil. Consider first...
Baylor College
Fuel for Living Things
During a three-part lesson, learners make a cabbage juice pH indicator and use it to analyze the waste products of yeast after feeding them with sugar. The intent is to demonstrate how living organisms produce carbon dioxide, which is...
Baylor College
Finding the Carbon in Sugar
In session one, demonstrate for your class how a flame eventually goes out when enclosed in a jar in order to teach that oxygen is required for combustion. In session two, class members then burn sugar in a spoon to observe how it...
Baylor College
Greenhouse S'Mores
Your class will agree that this is the best way to demonstrate the greenhouse effect: making solar s'mores! Using a clear plastic cups as mini atmospheres, lab groups compare how adding different materials affects the melting rate of...
Baylor College
Pre-Assessment: The Brain
Break your class in to the general structure and function of the brain. Brainiacs discuss what they know about it and create personalized brain development timelines. They also take a true-false, pre-assessment quiz to get them thinking...
Baylor College
Neurotransmitters Contain Chemicals
Human body systems students play a card game, "Locks & Keys" in order to learn that neurotransmitters carry a message from one neuron to another by fitting into a receptor site on the receiving nerve cell. While this activity can...
Personal Genetics Education Project
Genetics, history and the American Eugenics Movement
A poignant 20-slide show introduces high schoolers to the amazing accomplishments of genomics and raises the question of eugenics. This instructional activity is only for mature audiences, as it deals with rape and other sensitive...
Curated OER
Is It A Crime To Be Gay?
Students stage a parliamentary committee hearing in the newly independent Eastern European country of Boldovistan. Role playing characters with differing attitudes towards homosexuality, students testify on legislation to abolish laws...
Curated OER
Good Schools For Everyone
Young scholars work in groups in order to brainstorm the type of criteria needed to assess the quality of a secondary school. They use several case studies to establish the context for coming up with ideas. Then students conduct research...
Curated OER
My Journey From Innocence
Students discuss the factors that may or may not influence the outcome of a sexual experience. After reading a brief article about a student losing their virginity, students discuss the ways a sexual experience can have a different...
Curated OER
Sex And Alcohol: A Risky Mix
High schoolers examine the reasons people use alcohol and discuss the negative things that can happen when mixing sex and alcohol. In this lesson on risky behavior, students explore the ways in which they can reduce the risks involved...
Curated OER
Teens on Trial
Students read about the public reaction to the conviction of Alex and Derek King, and explore the issue of child offenders being tried and sentenced as adults. They compose letters to Florida Governor Jeb Bush, outlining their opinion on...
Curated OER
Older, Wiser, and Making a Difference
Students reflect on an adult who plays a significant role in their lives. They conduct peer interviews and write newspaper articles about these important individuals.
Curated OER
Tarantula Shoes
High schoolers read a book about Ryan O'Keefe, a young man who wants a pair of basketball shoes promoted by a basketball star. They explore about spending, saving, opportunity cost, and trade-offs as they study Ryan's decisions...
Curated OER
Tadpole Diary
Second graders examine the life cycle by observing tadpoles. After reading the book, Tadpole Diary, they draw the stages of tadpole development and write sentences about what they think is happening.
Curated OER
A Site to See
Students identify the risks and benefits of living next to a volcano. After reading an article, they discuss the behaviors of an active volcano. Using the Internet, they work together to research volcano-monitoring techniques and create...