Stanford University
Transcontinental Railroad
Did the Transcontinental Railroad connect the nation or divide it? Learners demonstrate their knowledge of the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad in a written assessment. The assessment also uses an original photo as a prompt for...
Curated OER
Burr Airlines Flight to Asia: Building Inquiry Skills
What a wonderful way to explore this topic! Learners take an imaginary trip to Asia, take a visual tour, and formulate questions for a research project. As a final project, they create a travel brochure.
Stanford University
Soviets in Berlin
High school historians use their knowledge of WWII to analyze a photo of the Soviets entering Berlin. The social studies assessment is comprised of two short answer questions to assess academics' understanding of the historical...
C3 Teachers
Economics of Slavery: How Did Cotton Sow the Seeds of Panic?
An inquiry-based lesson challenges high schoolers to research and identify the economic forces and inventions that impacted the cotton industry. Researchers consider how the use of slavery impacted the economic growth of the United States.
US Institute of Peace
Defining Conflict
Conflict is everywhere—but is it avoidable? The first activity in a series of 15 peacebuilding lessons examines the nature of conflict at home, school, and across the world. Learners develop a definition of conflict through group work...
Livaudais-Baker English Classroom
Lord of the Flies
Packed with activities, projects, and assessments, first-time instructors and seasoned veterans will find much to like in this overview of a nine-part unit based on William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies.
Curated OER
Ancient Greece Research
Sixth graders explore ancient Greece. In this ancient civilizations lesson, 6th graders research how ancient Greece influenced modern societies. Students prepare PowerPoint presentations to share their findings with their classmates.
Curated OER
Grocery Store Field Study
Learners visit a local grocery store (not a community market) to gather information about where some commonly eaten produce items come from. Once they have collected this information, locate the countries of origin on a map and research...
Curated OER
The Psychology Teacher's Resource Guide
The activities in a comprehensive teacher's resource guide provides budding psychologists with opportunities to design experiments to study behavior, apply their knowledge of research variables, critique online behavior surveys, and much...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Equilibria—Gifted and Talented Chemistry
Teaching is a balancing act! Keep things on an even keel with a comprehensive equilibrium lesson plan. The resource covers reversible and irreversible reactions, Le Chatelier's Principle, and the industrial applications of equilibrium...
Curated OER
Credible Sources on the Internet: What to Trust, What to Dismiss and When to Cite a Source
Wait, you mean researchers don't all use Wikipedia? Teach your class about intelligent research with a lesson about evaluating digital sources. The lesson starts with a quickwrite and includes vocabulary exercises and several...
Curated OER
What Do You Think? Analyzing Points of View About an Issue
"How might multiple perspectives of standardized testing impact me as a student?" is an example of an essential question that a researcher might use as a basis for this lesson plan on how to research and present a written stance on a...
Curated OER
Analyzing Advertising
Some ads really make products look great, and even better than they really are! Kids get into small groups to research and compare marketing used by various cell phone companies. They analyze advertisements, carrier options, and cell...
Curated OER
Note-Taking: K.I.S.S. "Keep It Short and Simple"
Note-taking is an essential study skill, and it needs to be taught! In the context of a research project on energy sources, learners find multiple sources, evaluating, paraphrasing, and citing them correctly. Two lists with note-taking...
Curated OER
Comparing Plans
Good consumer practices such as price comparison can make or break a budget. Youngsters research five different cell phone carriers and the plans they offer. They compile their data and determine which plan offers the best value. They...
Curated OER
Insurance Quotes
You're in high school and you just got the coolest car ever! But, now you need to start thinking about car insurance. Luckily, your teacher prepared you by engaging you in a life skills lesson like this one. The class actually calls...
Curated OER
The nutritional value of snack foods
This lesson is intended as preparation for a school health fair but could be used anytime. Learners discuss and compare the nutrition found in typical snack foods. They compose investigative questions, collect data, and research a...
Curated OER
The ABCs of the Holocaust
The ABC book format is used to organize information found in a Holocaust research project. Class members use the library and/or online resources to collect information and organize their findings under key terms, places, or names. Before...
Curated OER
Nine Planets
What are characteristics of a planet? With this plan, learners investigate the characteristics of the planets in our solar system. They gather research of the nine planets by using the Internet and other research tools. Then they create...
Curated OER
Tell Me More
Fifth graders demonstrate research techniques in addition to endeavoring to display focus and stay on topic. Using books and stories, they gather, organize, and share information about a topic. Additionally, they explain to the class...
Curated OER
Dream Phone of Basic Phone?
Learning to be a savvy shopper can make or break the bank. Upper graders research five different cell phone carriers to see if they'll have enough money in their imaginary budget for a dream phone or a basic phone. They create either a...
Curated OER
Plagiarism: Avoiding Accidental Internet Plagiarism
Demonstrate how to cite information from Internet sources without plagiarizing. If your class is working on an Internet research paper, and you have observed learners cutting and pasting directly from the Internet, the activities and...
Curated OER
All The Bell & Whistles
Young adults are so eager to get that first cell phone. And, cell phones have so many cool extras! Learners conduct real-life research to determine which cell phone carrier offers the best deals on things like wall paper, ringtones, and...
Curated OER
Writing a Newspaper-Style Article
Help your secondary reader/writers assess texts by studying press releases from Statistics Canada and drafting articles based on them. They then compare the press release, their own articles, and actual news stories they find online. I'd...