Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...

Learning how a bank account works is a useful tool. The exercise in the resource is to deduct rent from a checking account and create an equation from a description. Participants then graph the balance of the bank account versus months...

This can be used as a critical thinking exercise in congruence or as a teaching tool when first introducing the concept. Four octagons are arranged in such a way that a square is formed in the middle. With this information, geometry...

Encourage your pupils to think critically about media and the messages media portrays. Starting off with a quick-write about pop culture, this assignment launches into a hands-on, collaborative collage project. After creating collages,...

Are these the end times? Combine current events with religious prophecy in this activity, where scholars analyze a 2007 political cartoon in the context of current issues. Background information explains the Four Horsemen of the...

Students read The Tell Tale Heart and practice critical analysis while reflecting on its underlying meanings. In this reading lesson, students make predictions, monitor their own comprehension and adjust their reading accordingly....

High schoolers examine and analyze visual media and its messages critically. They determine whether specific media messages inform, entertain, or persuade and what factors influence the media. Using primary sources, they participate in...

Pupils investigate dog breeds and write a short story from a dog's perspective. In this dog research and writing lesson, students watch the film, "Dog: The Early Years. They apply critical thinking skills to determine which type of dog...

Young scholars develop critical thinking skills so that they may produce their own written plays or music from their thoughts and feelings. They express their thoughts based on what has been presented to them over the duration of the...

Pupils examine Africa from a regional perspective. They appreciate the historic and geographic relationships that unite and divide the regions of Africa. Students create a comprehensive document outlining problems in the assigned region....

Students explore higher level thinking. They develop their critical thinking skills by answering open ended questions. Students work cooperatively and make and explain connections between texts and their personal lives. Students use...

In this critical thinking activity, students analyze 6 pictures and decide if the situation is possible or impossible. Students write the correct word on the line.

Students use dance to better understand the writing process. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students use their critical thinking skills to connect dance with writing. Students use thinking maps to follow the writing process, write a...

Young sleuths don their trench coats, tip their fedoras, and grab their notepads to investigate one of four famous unsolved mysteries. After examining multiple primary and secondary sources related to their cold case, they propose a...

Everyone sees the results of public policy, but not everyone understands the strategy that goes into creating an effective one. Now that your class understands the brainstorming process from earlier in the series, they continue on to the...

In order to maximize reading comprehension levels, young readers must learn to make connections to the content. This activity applies to any reading and provides spaces for readers to document relevent personal experiences, prior...

In collaborative groups, young US historians sort cards (each labeled with a single early American event or issue) according to which of the first four presidents was leading the country at the time. Learners copy the events onto a...

This discussion based lesson focuses on the sensitive topic of suicide attacks or bombings used throughout history during times of militaristic upheaval. Learners read news stories, compose journal entries, and engage in a class...

Youngsters identify the ingredients in a can of vegetable soup and record a recipe for the soup. They volunteer to bring in soup ingredients, graph the quantities of each vegetable in the soup, and make the soup with help from parents....

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...

Use this political cartoon as a class warm up or discussion starter. Upper graders examine the role of newspapers as government watchdogs. Items for consideration are available, alongside a vivid cartoon.

Explore the primary elections through political cartoons. Three talking points guide deeper thinking as pupils analyze a cartoon, which depicts the 2008 campaigning in Iowa. Analysts identify caricatures, research why winning Iowa is...

This lesson starts out with a guided discussion about the statement "Birds fly in the sky; airplanes fly in the sky; therefore, airplanes are birds" and goes on to cover logical fallacies and reliable sources, relating these to the topic...

Help your pupils find some direction with a career research project. Individuals research three careers, using the included graphic organizers to record their findings. They then create a visual aid on a computer and present their...