Working under specific constraints and with designated criteria, groups work together to create a product using an assembly line process. In addition, they work through the entire engineering design process with an excellent graphic to...

Sure, you may be able to build a better mousetrap, but what about a gum dispenser? In a fun engineering challenge, teams must design and build a working interactive gumball machine with specific constraints and criteria.

After reading about the history of tape dispensers, learners compare and contrast different dispenser designs. Next, teams work within budgetary and time constraints to design a better dispenser. When finished, each engineer reflects on...

Pairs build a device that will be able to send a binary message. They then update their device to allow it to send four possible messages before upping the ante to eight. The provided self-assessment rubric comes with reflection...

Color me green. The fourth lesson in a unit of 15 introduces the class to color images and how to encode color images using binary code and hexadecimal numbers — and they will quickly notice that it is easier to code the...

No need to go to Ollivanders to buy a magic wand. In the chemistry lab activity, young magicians mix chemicals to create combustible compounds. By applying these compounds to an iron wire, they create magic wands.

Enough with the talking, let's build something! In the fifth step in the engineering design process, young engineers build a prototype to test their ideas. The activity walks them through the process of evaluating it step-by-step....

This is what all of the excitement has been building up to! Young engineers create engineering drawings, use machines to manufacture their products, test, and evaluate their designs in the last step in the engineering design...

Welcome to the code side. The interactive lesson introduces coding in a game format with familiar characters. Young computer experts learn to develop code to control the interaction of the characters in the game. The activity ends with...

Fifth graders create their own morphes in the computer lab emphasizing lines and color and explain them. In this art lesson plan, 5th graders base their creations on the work of Keith Haring.

Students, while in the computer lab on Inspiration, visit angermgmt.com and then brainstorm additional anger triggers on a concept map together in groups. Once completed, they identify two new anger management strategies to try out in...

In this volcano instructional activity, students choose a volcano from a given list to do research on using the computer lab. Students gather information about the volcano and answer 20 questions. They create a poster with graphics and...

Two students are blindfolded and each receives a cardboard square, one with pompoms glued around the edge and one with pompoms glued all over the surface. They identify what they feel. The class discusses perimeter and area of polygons....

A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...

Fifth graders, exploring all the ins and outs of using a computer, publish their own mammal papers with the use of word searches, thesaurus and spell checks. While in the computer lab, they research their mammal and country on the...

Learners investigate three examples of how changing circumstances, linked to technology and social attitudes, affect a business. They complete an activity and participate in discussion.

Learners share their knowledge of bats. In this video production lesson plan, students use Internet and print resources to research information regarding bats. Learners prepare bat questions and answers, record them on video, and produce...

Learners study the role that technology has played in designing spacecrafts.  In this science and technology lesson students view a video and complete a lab activity. 

Students explore "wild" places. In this technology lesson students use ArcGIS Explorer to investigate wild places near them in their neighborhood. Students view the landscape from both above and the ground.

Students, while in the computer lab assessing how to use Hyper Studio, utilize computer technology as a vehicle to telling an oral story. They create a title page for their Magic Tree House stories. A variety of technology tools are...

Students discuss environmental preservation and sustainability and their role in consumption and preservation. After a brief demonstration of how limited our resources are, students determine which natural resources they use most...

Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the development of music skills. They focus upon the mastering of a song known as "Come Follow, Follow Me". They recognize the musical notes and read the lyrics with accuracy while using...

Young scholars explore human rights issues. In this human rights lesson, students use the Carter Center Human Rights Defenders website to complete a scavenger hunt that allows them to investigate the work of those fighting for human...

Find the age of a fictional sample of rocks using a genuine approach. A well-designed lesson asks young mathematicians to use exponential modeling to analyze half-life. As a project-based learning activity, scholars communicate...