Activity
Curated OER

Area of the Lawn Project

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students calculate simple area calculations in real-life situations. They determine simple wage computations. They use critical thinking skills. They demonstrate their ability to use writing in order to express mathematical thoughts and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Population Vs Consumption: Which is a Bigger Problem for the Environment & Who is Getting the Lion's Share of the World's Resources?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students develop critical thinking and awareness about the complexity of natural resource use, wealth distribution, population densities, poverty, and the environment. They think about people living in different parts of the world and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Island Survival

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students participate in a simulation of life on a deserted island. They work with their group to develop an island survival plan and summarize it in a journal. Students use a worksheet and challenge cards to earn points. They will be...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fishy Frequencies

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders demonstrate that natural selection is an agent of evolution. They quantitatively apply the Hardy-Weinberg Principle to an imaginary population of fish. They utilize math and graphing skills, collecting and analyzing data,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vanishing Verbs

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Students analyze recent media trends, and develop critical thinking skills by summarizing main ideas, extracting details, formulating opinions, drawing inferences, and comparing and contrasting attitudes. They also practice paraphrasing...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Stacking the Deck on Nutrition

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students explore classification. In this science lesson plan, students arrange a variety of foods into their proper food groups. This and other related activities will aid in the development of the students' critical thinking skills.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Splatter Spread

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Learners assemble a potato cannon following directions. In groups, they analyze the spread pattern of paint soaked projectiles and discover the relationship between scatter and distance. They role play the role of a forensic scientist...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Growing on My Own, Kids on the Grow

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners participate in an after school program that promotes critical thinking, concern for others, recognizing differences, accepting differences, self-motivation and personal safety. They cover how kids develop, expressing different...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Argumentation and Logic

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students recognize inductive and deductive reasoning and analyze common fallacies in critical thinking.  For this argumentation and logic lesson, students use role playing activities and specific instances of inductive and deductive...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Island Survival

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students participate in a simulation of life on a deserted island. They apply their critical thinking skills and knowledge of oceans and islands to "survive" and ultimately return to safety. Lesson contains adaptations for all levels.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

MONSTERS AND MYTHS: SCRIPTS /SCULPTS

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders are introduced to myths formed by many cultures as a unique genre of literature. They use critical thinking skills to compare and contrast mythic tales, compare versions of the same story, and respond to literature in...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Decision Making Lesson Plans

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Critical thinking skills, such as decision making, can make students look at the information they receive in a new light.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Woman Power!!! Mathematics Camp

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students explore mathematics by researching stereotypes. For this gender bias lesson, students participate in discussions where they identify traditional careers according to their own gender. Female students attend summer camp and...
Lesson Plan
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National Park Service

Freedom at Antietam

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Explore how the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation affected everyday individuals in the Civil War era. Learners are given the opportunity to read and evaluate primary and secondary source material, and then to compose a writing...
Activity
Discovery Education

Hurricane Force

For Teachers 9th - 12th
It's important to make sure houses can withstand winds. A hands-on activity has learners create a structure out of household materials. They use a fan to simulate hurricane-force winds to see if their structures can withstand the...
Lesson Plan
Brigham Young University

A River Runs Through It: Blooms Taxonomy

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Designed for teachers who use Norman Maclean's autobiographical A River Runs Through It, this one-page resource offers discussion question structured using Bloom's Taxonomy.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Map It Out

For Teachers K - 4th
Explore how illustrations add to a story. Young learners will look at picture books to see how the pictures tell the story. They create illustrations to go with a chosen story, and then flip the activity so they have to write a story to...
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

The Founders’ Library: Thinking as a Founding Father

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students analyze the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In this U.S. government lesson, students examine books, movies, and music that influence them today and then investigate writings that influenced the framers of the...
Lesson Plan
National Geographic

Ocean Exploration

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora, Dora! This may be your little ones' best guess as to what it's like to be an explorer! Give them a deeper understanding with this compact examination. A four-minute video introduces them to Robert Ballard,...
Activity
Scouts

The Deadly Picnic: A Lab on Deductive Reasoning

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Whodunnit? Find out who killed Mr. Brooks through a logical examination of evidence. Class members fill out a couple of data tables to help them pin down the suspect. After they've figured out just who the culprit is, pupils compose...
Activity
Curated OER

The Old Man and the Sea: Vocabulary Strategy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Readers read more closely when they think critically about a text. Discuss the words and concepts from Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a class activity that asks readers to not only record...
Activity
Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Gorongosa: Scientific Inquiry and Data Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How does the scientific process begin? Introduce ecology scholars to scientific inquiry through an insightful, data-driven lesson. Partners examine data from an ongoing research study to determine the questions it answers. The resource...
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Phineas Gage: The Teenage Brain and Connections: Free Choice Activity

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
During this lesson, which is all about making connections, learners watch a documentary about the teenage brain and connect it to Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, their own lives, and the world.
Activity
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Teach Engineering

Rock and Boat

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Present the class with a question on whether the water level of a pond will rise they take a large rock out of a boat and drop it into the pond. Groups come down on all sides of the question and try to justify their answers. The activity...