MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Connecting Africa: A Project-Based Learning Adventure
Mission Possible: Your task is to design a new highway route from Tunis, Tunisia to Cape Town, South Africa. If you accept the challenge, you must create a small map of the route that has already been rejected, a...
Curated OER
Jet Engine Magazine
Students explore physics by creating a magazine cover in class. In this flight lesson, students identify the motion and force that must be generated in order for a jet engine to lift off the ground. Students create a cover for a...
Curated OER
Visual Messages: Creating a Photomontage
Students create a photomontage. For this lesson on photography as a means of conveying emotion, students use images gathered from the Internet to create a photomontage comparing how water is used in Africa and the U.S.
Curated OER
Cartographer on Assignment: Creating a Physical Map of Africa
Students use geographic information to make an outline map of Africa, then demonstrate their understanding of the physical landscape of Africa by using a variety of materials to create a physical map of Africa
Curated OER
Creating a Wild Family Album
Third graders choose an animal to research and create a portfolio about that animal that includes information from at least three resources, a graphic organizer, maps, food webs, and captioned pictures.
Curated OER
Covering the Issue
Examine how art and music can be powerful tools for conveying a political or social message. After considering the issues surrounding rapper Paris, students design their own album covers that reflect their political and/or social...
ESL Kid Stuff
Rooms of a House
Language learners create and label the rooms in a house and then add and label images of objects that may be found in each room.
Curated OER
Getting the Scoop
Students examine the impact of photography on bringing readership to a magazine. They read and discuss an article, and create a magazine cover and inside spread designed to compete with an existing publication.
Curated OER
Contemporary: An Alternative Magazine
Students create a magazine that is circulated in an alternative format. They design each issue in the form of a student-created box. They explore issues relating to experiences of young people in different times and places.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Miniature Game
Art inspires art, as children work to understand artistic forms that come from the imagination. They analyze the installation piece, Fox Games and then discuss the design process. They then use clay to create imaginative dioramas,...
NPR
Suffrage Lesson Plan
Has life changed for American women in the last century, or are there common themes between the lives of 21st century women and the struggle of suffragettes from the 1910s? Explore the ways media reflects the position of women...
Curated OER
News Magazine: Special Issue on Iran. (It's about Perspective)
Students take on the role of journalists. In this Iran instructional activity, students explore the condition of the country at this point in history and collaborate to create a news magazine that features current events and cultural...
Sea World
Whales
A whale of a lesson is sure to intrigue your elementary oceanographers! Learn about the mammals of the sea with a series of activities about whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Kids complete worksheets about the anatomy of a whale, create a...
National Gallery of Canada
Mastering One-Point Perspective
Cover one-point perspective through observation and practice. Class members examine several works of art that use one-point perspective, look at magazine images to find the vanishing points and horizon lines, and draw their own city...
Curated OER
Jet Engine Magazine Project
Students create a magazine highlighting their favorite type of of jet engine.
Newseum
The Press and the Presidency: Friend or Foe? How the President Is Portrayed
In theory, news reports should be fair and unbiased. Young journalists test this theory by selecting a current news story covered by various media outlets about the President of the United States. They then locate and analyze five...
Curated OER
Can You Find It?
Plan a Parts of a Book scavenger hunt. Begin by giving your young adventurers a book, and asking them to find the title, author, illustrator, and table of contents. After a discussion of the purpose of each of these items, class members...
Curated OER
Harvesting Mosaics
Students use pieces of farm pictures to investigate the elements of art. In this farm art lesson, students use pieces of pictures to create an original artwork. Students use the Internet to find images. Students create a...
Curated OER
Civil Rights Video Essay
High schoolers investigate a decade of American history when the civil rights movement was a focus of national attention. They create a video essay about a person or event that played an important role in shaping the civil rights movement.
Curated OER
Island Inquiry: Based on the Northern Mariana Islands Quarter
Students research two physical and/or human characteristic topics of the Northern Mariana Islands in groups of four students. In this social studies lesson, students analyze how to write magazine articles and research the two topics...
Curated OER
Why Vote? A Public Awareness Campaign
Students examine the structure of local government and determine why citizens vote. In this civics lesson, students listen to a lecture about the structure of local government and then encourage others to exercise their right to vote.
Curated OER
Getting Started: Pre-Writing Techniques
Pre-writing activities are covered to help your students examine topics and personal experiences. Your class will discover how to choose topics which create a strong piece of writing and incorporate personal knowledge.
Curated OER
Civil Rights Video Essay
Students research an event or a person from a decade in American history when the civil rights movement was an important focus. They create a multimedia project based on the research.
Curated OER
Navajo Code Talkers
An engaging lesson focuses on the contributions of the Navajo people during World War II. Learners read the book Navajo Code Talkers by Andrew Santella, answer a series of comprehension questions about the text, and write a letter...