Caucus 101
Linkage Institutions: Interest Groups: Option A
How are elections really run and won? Learn about special interest groups, super PACs, and lobbyists with an engaging lesson about the caucus process. Young voters research specific interest groups and analyze their part in previous and...
Georgia Standards
Sociology Unit Six: Socialization Within the Group
How do we learn the rules of society? How do beliefs and ideas affect these rules? Introduce your young sociologists to the factors that socialize individuals with a unit that uses observation and experimentation to analyze how factors...
Curated OER
You Are What You Eat
Students identify healthy food choices from the food groups on the USDA food pyramid. In this nutrition and health lesson, students identify and name examples of each food group displayed on the food pyramid. Students cut out healthy...
Curated OER
Financial Institution Comparison
Once learners are ready to choose a bank, how do they make a smart decision for their financial needs? Scholars help each other by jigsawing the research in groups. After introducing checking and savings accounts with the attached...
Curated OER
Homophobia: What is It? What Can We Do About It?
A two-part instructional activity focuses on the sensitive issues of homophobia, discrimination, sexuality, and gender. Middle schoolers discuss individual and institutional discrimination, personal rights, homosexuality, and bullying.
US Institute of Peace
Organizations Working for Peace
From helping refugees to negotiating peace treaties, the peacekeepers of the world keep busy! Introduce young activists to the many individuals and organizations throughout the world that work daily toward peace. 14th in a series of 15...
Learning Games Lab
Controlling Water Activity in Food
Food storage matters! Scholars learn how the amount of water in corn can affect its rate of spoilage. They create a control group, then test three corn samples stored in three different locations for water activity. As a result of the...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Purged From the Voter Rolls: Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute
Once a registered voter isn't always a registered voter. Academics explore the topic of voter registration and hindrances to remaining registered. The resource focuses on data analysis, federal voter registration law, and Supreme Court...
Curated OER
Legislators and Representation - Issue Complexity and Compromise
High schoolers research the web sites of state or federal executive departments, and prepare summaries of the department's functions, locations, and programs. They debate the role of interest groups in government.
American Physiological Society
Feeling the Heat
How do the changing seasons affect the homes where we live? This question is at the forefront of engineering and design projects. Challenge your physical science class to step into the role of an architect to build a model home capable...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
The Amendment Process
Long revered as the "upper chamber," the US Senate was created to give the new nation a balance between large and small states. However, has the time for this institution passed? Using a reading on how the amendment process works,...
Curated OER
Legislators and Representation - Executive, Federal and Interest Group Relations
High schoolers explore the interaction between the legislature and other governmental institutions. They watch videos exploring the relationship between the state legislature and two government institutions, and the role of lobbyists on...
Curated OER
Transportation Fuels Rock Performances
Here is an exciting way to get small groups teaching each other about different fuels that are used for transportation; have them write a song about a fuel type and sing it for the class! Each group must write a three-line, informative...
California Department of Education
What Are My Options?
Where do I go from here? Start sophomores off on the right path using an activity designed with the future in mind. The final lesson plan in a five-part career readiness series helps individuals decide what's important to them before...
US Institute of Peace
Identifying Conflict Styles
Are you a peace-keeper or a problem-solver? Explore conflict management styles through a instructional activity, fourth in a 15-part series, that combines individual assessment and collaborative work. Groups learn the basic tendencies of...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Birmingham, Fall 1963
Can any good come from acts of evil? The 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the eventual outcomes of the tragedy, are the focus of a lesson that asks groups to examine primary source documents...
Curated OER
Risk Taking Behaviors
Tenth graders listen to a presenters introduction and write questions they hope to have answered during the presentation. They listen to a presentation and record notes. They participate in small group discussion and complete...
Federal Reserve Bank
Turn Your Radio On
After listening to and analyzing a series of FDR's Fireside Chats, groups create their own recordings, and using New Deal programs, address a current economic condition.
Baylor College
Drugs, Risks and the Nervous System
In cooperative groups, middle schoolers contemplate the probability of 18 different situations occurring. After they make predictions, they compare them to the actual risk factors. This eye-opening exercise demonstrates that the odds of...
American Physiological Society
Drug the Water Flea
This is a flea. This is a flea on drugs. Any questions? Your class will have questions aplenty during an impactful experiment. Lab groups get to know Daphnia magna, the humble water flea, and study the effects of stimulants and...
Mascil Project
Sports Physiology and Statistics
If I want to build up my heart, where should I start? Science scholars use statistics in a sports physiology setting during an insightful experiment. Groups measure resting and active heart rates and develop a scatter plot that shows the...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
If Men Were Angels: Teaching the Constitution With the Federalist Papers
Much like the methods of group work, the writers of the Federalist Papers worked together to advocate for their viewpoints against the anti-federalists. The resource enables learners to break into small groups and conduct research before...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
History of Immigration Through the 1850s
Everyone living in the United States today is a descendant from an immigrant—even Native Americans. Learn about the tumultuous history of American immigration with a reading passage that discusses the ancient migration over the Bering...
Visa
Make It Happen: Saving for a Rainy Day
Every little penny counts, especially when it comes to saving for emergencies or long-term goals. Pupils evaluate different saving and investment strategies, such as a CD or money market account, through worksheets and by researching...