Read an article about the migration of our ancestors and write a paragraph. Pupils paraphrase and summarize to restate the information found in a nonfiction text. They write a shortened version of the reading to demonstrate the...

Identifying themes in literature is the focus of the language arts lesson plan presented here. Learners read short pieces of fiction and practice the skill of identifying the themes present in each one. The bulk of the lesson consists of...

Photosynthesis requires energy and produces food, and cellular respiration produces energy and requires food. An interesting instructional activity analyzes the factors that affect the rates of photosynthesis and respiration. Classes...

Most twenty-first century pupils don't know how to interpret cuneiform. Examining images of cuneiform and papyrus writing and using a chart and Venn diagram, young historians extrapolate what life may have been like for people who lived...

Learners build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. In this energy efficiency instructional activity, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in...

There is more than one way to represent data! Learners explore ways to represent data. They examine stacked graphs, histograms, and line plots. They conduct surveys and use stacked graphs, histograms, or line plots to chart the data they...

W.W. Jacobs' story "The Monkey's Paw" provides plenty of foreshadowing which readers use to make predictions in this tightly composed, sound instructional plan. Your class reads the story, recording predictions and checking for veracity...

Students examine the political alternatives regarding the spread of slavery and the preservation of the American union facing the American people in the decade leading up to the 1860 presidential election.

Young scholars complete a unit of lessons that examine the goals of the Americans during the Revolutionary War. They explore an online interactive map of major campaigns, read and analyze primary source documents, and analyze diplomatic...

Upper graders investigate how the Seventh Day Adventists are objectors to the practice of war. The lesson covers the Civil War and examines the church's position about the practice of war. The research extends to modern wars and learners...

Students participate in a series of hand-on, online, and multimedia activities to examine 2 dimensional and 3 dimensional shapes. They describe common geometric solids. They construct rectangular prisms using straws and ribbon.

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

Merge technology and wellness. Class members complete inquiry-based research on a personal wellness issue and create an annotated bibliography, uploading their completed work to their personal wellness websites. Prior to beginning, your...

It's tough for high schoolers to assess what is a credible resource and what is not. A helpful resource prompts class members to research a particular topic and record two facts—and create one lie—while documenting the sources. They...

Have your class conduct research to learn all they can about simple machines. They use the web, take notes from a video, write a script, then make a film describing various simple machines found in real life. These videos are then...

Imagine being a war photographer embedded in World War I. How do you see your role? How might your photos influence that study of the war? Of history? Class members select a photograph, adopt the perspective of the photographer, and...

Do speed cameras help reduce accidents? Scholars investigate this question using a series of spreadsheet activities. Along the way, they learn about randomness, probability, and statistical analysis.

After viewing the documentary The Last Roundup, a documentary about the transitioning of Santa Rosa from a privately own island to a National Park, class members debate the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment that permits the...

Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...

What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...

The Burmese python is on the loose ... and he's hungry! Illustrate the differences between causative and correlative relationships through an inquiry lesson. Pupils examine several sources of information to determine if there is a...

Just how confident can we be with statistics calculated from a sample? Learners take this into account as they look at data from a sample of petroleum engineer salaries. They analyze the effect sample size has on a margin of error and...

A diameter is the longest chord possible, but that's not the only relationship between chords and diameters! Young geometry pupils construct perpendicular bisectors of chords to develop a conjecture about the relationships between chords...

Ninth graders use geographic representations to organize, analyze, and present information on people, places, and environments. They use tools and methods of geographers to construct, interpret, and evaluate qualitative and quantitative...