How does a one-way mirror work? Though most everyone knows that one-way mirrors exist, having students model how they work turns out to be a very effective way to develop their thinking about how visible light travels and how we see...

This site describes the early history of the Ohio River Valley. Topics covered include: Contested Lands, Peoples and Migrations, Empires and Politics, Western Life and Culture, and Constructing a Western Past. Links to primary source...

Skylar Tibbits and his team at MIT's Self Assembly Lab are working on materials to create 4-D printing. What exactly is 4-D printing? The Self Assembly Lab works to create physical objects that can self-construct from stored memory...

This hands-on lesson discusses and explores rational numbers. Students construct personal fractional strip kits and use them to compare fractional amounts and investigate equivalence. The lesson plan includes instructions, materials, and...

Lesson investigates how engineers develop safe transportation systems to operate in a variety of climates and environments. Teams of students work together to construct a "chair lift" made from everyday materials as a test of this...

The Contemporary Mathematics in Context series provides a common core of broadly useful mathematics for all students. The discrete mathematics strand develops student ability to model and solve problems involving enumeration, sequential...

This lesson will challenge young scholars to think creatively by having them design and build water balloon catchers from random scrap materials, while requiring them to take into consideration a multitude of variables including cost,...