Curated OER
What Do You Think of Obama's Oval Office Speech on the Oil Spill?
Kids age 13 and older are asked to read the provided Times article and background information in order to construct a thoughtful blog response to Obama's first Oval Office speech. They work to address each of the related critical...
Curated OER
Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) in the History Classroom
SAC is a specific approach to discussing history and controversial issues. Rather than adhering to an either/or debate-style paradigm, it fosters speaking and constructivist listening to enable learners to build consensus through...
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,...
Curated OER
Philanthropic Behavior/ Cooperative Learning
Young scholars increase listening comprehension and use critical thinking skills to make a picture. In this philanthropic behavior instructional activity, students draw pictures in three parts. Each part is drawn by another young...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Biomimicry in Engineering
Take a look with your class at how nature supplies inspiration to engineers. In cooperative groups, youngsters research biomimicry and then develop a system that would help support people living on the moon. Each team also considers...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Adaptive Device Design
After reading about how engineering has made adaptive devices possible for people with disabilities, pupils work in groups to discuss different devices to determine whether or not they are adaptive. They also disassemble a pair of...
Rainforest Alliance
Investments in Forest Carbon
One hundred metric tons of CO2 can accumulate in one acre of forest over time—that's a lot of carbon! In the activity, groups of middle school learners determine what makes forests important. They then solidify the concept by using a...
Curated OER
"Weighing the Elephant"
Can your class solve the problem presented in the Chinese folktale, "Weighing the Elephant?" Read your class the description before having them attempt to solve the problem. After they've come up with an answer (or attempted to!), finish...
Curated OER
Old Wisdom: New Learnings
Students explore proverbs and idioms. In this integrated arts lesson, students collaborate to analyze proverbs and idioms. Students discuss their findings.
Curated OER
Mystery Strategy for Elementary Students
Learners of all ages solve historical mysteries. Elementary learners research historical topics by organizing information presented by their instructor, formulating hypotheses, and considering solutions to mysteries presented about...
National Library of Medicine
Your Environment, Your Health: The Great Debate—Bottled Water vs. Tap Water in Our School
Should bottled water be sold in schools, or should they only provide tap water? The summative unit in the six-part series encourages scholars debating this topic. The lessons teach how to build an argument, how to gain background...
Curated OER
Cooperative Classroom Text Features Activities
Fifth graders examine text features and create a PowerPoint presentation. In this text features lesson, 5th graders go over Kagan Cooperative Learning Structures and text features before they choose one to include in a book and...
Nazareth College
Cooperation and Conflict Resolution
Fourth graders participate in a variety of activities designed to promote cooperation and positive conflict resolution. In cooperative groups, they create a comic strip or poster, play cooperative musical chairs, write a journal entry...
Curated OER
FREE STANDING STRUCTURE
Young scholars demonstrate basic construction skills by building a free standing structure. They compute the cost of the structure.
Curated OER
Media in Research Multimedia Final Project
Students work cooperatively in groups to research a topic of their choice. They create a multimedia presentation of the information researched. Throughout the project they generate their own progress journals.
Curated OER
Reducing Air Pollution
In this critical thinking worksheet, students evaluate different scenarios to decide how the person or business in the scenario could help reduce air pollution. Students work in cooperative learning groups to decide what strategies could...
Overcoming Obstacles
Setting Expectations
Learning to work together respectfully is one of those life skills learned through practice. The second instructional activity in the series has groups attempt to complete an activity and then discuss the obstacles they faced. Using what...
Curated OER
What Is Courage?
Students brainstorm definitions of the word "courage." They work in cooperative groups to complete tasks related to critical lense statements. Students write an essay of critical analysis. They write a first draft, and peer edit . Essays...
Curated OER
Bernoulli Principle
The class conducts a simple experiment to demonstrate the Bernoulli Principle. After completing the experiment, they will discuss their findings. To prep for this activity, appropriate resource material on the Bernoulli Principle will be...
Curated OER
Using Proportions to Solve Problems
Skittles and math? Pupils will work as a class to determine how many orange Skittles are in a large bag by using proportions. They will problem solve, estimate, and share their thinking. Then, they will each receive a small bag of...
Curated OER
Revive Reviews With Student-Created Study Guides
Students work cooperatively in small groups to practice note-taking and outlining skills which are applied as student create unit Study Guides for their classmates. They demonstrate critical thinking skills as they decide the most...
National Park Service
A Peace Park
Piece together American and Canadian culture by learning about peace parks! Scholars discuss differences between Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park as a group. The newly-informed pupils answers questions about this...
EngageNY
Tax, Commissions, Fees, and Other Real-World Percent Problems
Pupils work several real-world problems that use percents in the 11th portion of a 20-part series. The problems contain percents involved with taxes, commissions, discounts, tips, fees, and interest. Scholars use the equations formed for...
Curated OER
Group Rules and Expectations
Learners explore psychology by participating in a student behavior activity. In this group dynamic lesson, students identify ways to keep several learners interested and focused on one task. Students complete worksheets discussing family...