Your pupils will be expected to determine the meaning of words and how those words affect the meaning of a text. Help them master this skill with the ideas listed here. First, look over the two activities that could be used for your...

Plants provide a variety of delicious foods essential for human survival. In the fourth lesson of this series on food science, young scientists investigate common fruits, vegetables, and grains in order to determine which plant part is...

Teach your class about colony collapse disorder and foster discussion about causes and solutions for the honeybee problem. Class members read and discuss an article and participate in one of two detailed activities about pollination and...

Combine art and writing in a lesson about legends. After viewing Inuit art, class members examine their own cultural surroundings in order to write and visually represent a legend. Individuals are invited to take the creative reins when...

What do the flag, the bald eagle, and the Statue of Liberty remind you of? After reading a short article about these national symbols, middle schoolers are asked to identify ideas that these items represent.

Ask learners to focus on one scene in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in order to write an analytical essay about Twain's ideas surrounding childhood. The final assignment in a unit, this writing prompt requires learners...

Rather than waiting for the world to change, encourage your class members to become agents of change with a project that asks groups to select an issue found in Tyson Miller's Dream of a Nation: Inspiring Ideas for a Better America....

Raptor flight patterns align with seasonal changes in net primary productivity. Here is a thought-provoking lesson that uses empirical data from a video to help scholars understand raptor migrations, producers/consumers, and ecosystems....

Here's your chance to save the world. The eighth lesson in a 25-part Energy Systems and Solutions unit has young scientists come up with ideas for individual or group projects. They identify ways to solve the energy crisis. Hope they...

How do viruses hijack our cells to produce more viral particles? Junior immunologists model how viral RNA integrates into a host cell's DNA using pop beads and use interactive tools to explore a virus' genome. The teacher's guide...

How do you describe a jellyfish? Individuals write adjectives for Nomura's jellyfish, take notes, and check understanding with a formative assessment. Notes include the definition for adjectives, guiding questions to help writers...

Climate change affects even the largest and intimidating of landforms—even Mount Everest! A resource helps teach learners the connection between global climate change and its effects on Earth. Activities include videos, class discussion,...

If you think you can do better, feel free to give it a try. Pupils learn about the work on Temple Grandin and consider ways to improve animal handling facilities. They work in groups to build models to showcase their ideas.

Every culture has its own stories to tell. An interesting educator's guide shares a large collection of fairytales and folktales, some from different cultures and some re-creations of classics. A summary and brief teaching ideas...

For years, scientists believed tRNA was junk left over from larger RNA. Three scientists used different approaches to prove tRNA actually exists as the connection between DNA and protein. Learn about their experiments, their lives, and...

Find the connection between trigonometry and tornadoes. Pairs investigate a tornado in Joplin, Mo., and use trigonometry to find its size. The pupils determine the path of the tornado and find the distance needed to travel to help...

Visualize vibrations within the classroom. Pupils see the connection between sound and waves. The learners use a tuning fork in two different ways to demonstrate the waves associated with sound. Scholars see how the sound waves from a...

The first Thanksgiving is the focus of a lesson that boosts reading comprehension and interview skills. Half the class reads about Pilgrims while the other half reads about the Native American, Squanto. After answering questions, pupils...

Don't let your brain play tricks on you! Learners test brain reaction rates while it is receiving multiple stimuli. They time each other reading a set of color words written in different colors and again when they are written in black....

Two lessons explore the connection between energy transformation and a given job. In lesson one, small groups role-play a scenario that showcases the energy transformations that may take place during a job-specific task. The second...

Convection currents aren't just a bunch of hot air. The second of five lessons in the Solar Updraft Towers unit focuses on energy transfer and convection currents. Young scientists watch six demonstrations that illustrate how warm air...

Young historians investigate how sexism impacted the 2020 United States presidential election. They examine media coverage of the six women candidates, engage in a four-corners debate reacting to statements about gender and the...

The key to understanding is making connections. Scholars explore angle dilations using properties of parallel lines. At completion, pupils prove that angles of a dilation preserve their original measure.