Learners analyze the elements of poetry and jazz. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at the rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, form, free verse, lyricism, and imagery that exist is jazz as well as poetry. 

Students examine the bill of rights as it relates to founding documents and their significance today. In this bill of rights lesson plan, students use newspapers as sources to answer critical questions regarding democratic citizenship....

Students explore architectural design.  In this critical thinking and architecture lesson, students view a number of websites providing proposals for design plans of a new World Trade Center.  Students choose and evaluate three...

Young scholars watch and analyze a video dealing with the topic of death. They answer discussion questions, identify examples of how death is represented in popular media, write a poem, create a memory book, and write a letter to someone...

Students choose newsworthy topics to research and investigate, narrow focus of investigation, get information from the source through interviews, write stories, and submit to media outlets.

Young scholars use the newspaper as a tool to make connections about what the five freedoms guarantee in the First Amendment. In this first amendment lesson plan, students analyze events in the newspaper to form conclusions about the...

Students read an article on the first crew of the international space station and answer a series of critical thinking questions.

Eleventh graders write down their best guess at the meaning of "urban renewal." students stage a Mayor's press conference announcing a new urban development plan for the Fillmore.

Students investigate journalism by researching a list of articles. In this story analysis lesson, students read several current event articles and answer a list of study questions as a group. Students summarize the article and share the...

Do reporters write about what they see, or what they think? Examine the differences between investigative writing and opinion writing with a lesson from PBS. Learners look over different examples of each kind of reporting, and convince...

The propellant needed for space explorations runs in the thousands, while paying to get the craft into orbit costs millions! In the second installment of three, two activities explore laws of conservation of energy and momentum. Using...

Scholars view comics from two different perspectives; one paints the Alfred Dreyfus as innocent, while the other portrays the exact opposite. They solve the mystery of what happened by analyzing the source, working in groups, and...

The Internet is known as the information superhighway, but sometimes it's hard to know when to hit the brakes on unreliable sources. Using a well-rounded lesson plan, pupils read and summarize articles about the gender pay gap and...

Simulate the Situation Room and analyze the US's relationship with North Korea. The plan starts off with a quick review and an examination of a online timeline that updates as the situation continues. Next, the class reads an article and...

Students critically examine the features of reports aimed at a young audience. Students discuss characteristics of a good report (who, what, where, when, why, how). They write their own report and include these characteristics in their...

Students examine the experiment of Lloyd Godson who lived 13 days underwater. In this critical thinking lesson, students predict, study and discuss various aspects of the underwater voyage. The lesson includes many cross-curricular...

Pupils examine the difference between subjective and objective statements, newscasts, and media. They discover that subjective is opinion based and objective is fact based.

Students listen to a National Public Radio program. They summarize the program, and write a script from a controversial newspaper article that could be a part of the NPR program they listened to.

Students explore the concept of stereotyping. They observe images and media that portray the Middle East and its inhabitants. Students make determinations about the impact of the images on their perceptions. They consider ways to...

Students view a PBS "In the Mix" video about the challenges teens face when their parents divorce and/or remarry. They participate in a class discussion about the video, role-play related situations and explore media depictions of...

Students articulate their understanding of the primary process, critically evaluate the primary process on a systemic level and explore the significance of the Super Tuesday primaries on a Presidential election.

Students analyze messages and values associated with civic engagement present in the media. They analyze the local community's promotion of values associated with civic engagement by conducting investigative research. They hypothesize...

Students use the differentiated instructional model based on Dr. Kathie Nunley's three layered curriculum outline. The unit is designed to individualize instruction, appeal to different learning styles, encourage critical and higher...

Learners examine some of the issues that may be facing the changing United States Supreme Court. With further exploration, they formulate their own opinions and deepen their awareness of these critical topics.