Eugenics philosophy takes survival of the fittest to a whole new level. With a research-focused lesson, young scientists examine the history of the eugenics movement and its impact on society. Pupils engage with a video clip, primary...

Small groups in your physics class collaborate on researching and forming an opinion on whether or not to continue operating the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York. Once the information is gathered and an argument developed,...

How much electricity do you use in a day? Physics fanatics calculate their energy use by consulting a chart of the watts required to run typical household appliances. They compare power to amounts of electric energy used or generated....

In a mock senate hearing regarding the development of ethanol as a fuel source, each person in the class is assigned a role to play and must uphold the stance of their character. Once the senate hearing is complete, each person writes a...

How can opinions slant facts? Workshop participants learn how to examine primary and secondary sources and identify the author's point of view. They also examine how visual art impacts the meaning and rhetoric of sources. Full of...

Why does it get so hot inside of our cars in the summertime? The greenhouse effect! Lab groups experiment to see what happens to an ice cube enclosed in a jar and placed in sunlight as compared to an ice cube outside of the jar. They...

Future public health advocates read a case study of a combination of water pollutants that may be linked to autism. The class is split into three groups, one to research each of the suspected chemicals. The look at how each one affects...

Super science learners examine the sun's production of energy by the process of nuclear fusion. Hands-on activities make this lesson engaging for middle schoolers. The lesson is made up of four parts. Part I is an introduction to the sun...

To get the word out that the Great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP) contains millions of pounds of non-biodegrading plastics, individuals research the GPGP and write an article for a newsletter. Researchers present their facts in a...

Adolescents have the opportunity to consider how they feel about the possibilities presented by the current availability of genetic sequencing. After some instruction, they participate in a four-corners activity in which you read a...

Chemistry and earth science meet in a instructional activity on carbon dioxide emissions. After reading about atmospheric problems caused by using fossil fuels, science stars balance equations for the burning of different alkanes. They...

  Wake up, sleepy head! High schoolers craft a creative presentation that represents how they feel when they wake up on a school morning. After the presentations, a reading of Academic Sleep Times and Academic Performance launches a...

With all the stuff available online, good essays are just a click away. But talk about tracking! Writers beware! New tech can now identify plagiarism, and the consequences of presenting someone else's work as your own are severe. Here's...

Students interpret a poem before completing activities to distinguish observations and interpretations. They examine how personal background can influence how a person interpreters what they observe.

Students examine the concept of astrology. They compare their traits with those of standard astrological descriptions. They discuss their findings.

The Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area of low oxygen that kills marine life, costs the United States $82 million every year. Young scientists research anoxic ocean environments then come up with a hypothesis for the cause of the Gulf of...

Students discover the differences in how stem cells develop and function depending on their source. They see how scientists are using stem cells - from a variety of sources - to study how they can be used to cure certain illnesses and...

Learners research the problems that cheetahs are facing in the wild. In this biology activity, students discuss how animal rehabilitation works. They write blogs about it and comment on everyone's post.

Students transfer examples (names) of primates from their location in an outline hierarchy of primate groups into a set of nested boxes reflecting that same hierarchy. A cladogram can then be drawn illustrating how these groups are...

Students examine a method biologists use to try to determine relationships. They examine how amino acid sequences have been determined for a number of proteins, and how scientists can make inferences about DNA based on the amino acid...

Students construct cladograms (evolutionary trees), showing how shared derived characters can be used to reveal degrees of relationship. They interpret and analyze cladograms, and determine where unclassified vertebrates would fit on a...

Students analyze 5 separate theories of evolution in order to help them explain the different meanings of theory, how human values influence science, and that the scientific view of the origin of life does not involve supernatural forces.

Students participate in a contrived natural selection simulation in which they build and modify simple paper airplanes. They study divergent and convergent evolution and how it is isolated in sub-populations.

Students present information regarding oil and how it affects the environment. In this environmental awareness lesson plan, students work in groups to write a paper, create a PowerPoint, and put together a poster about their specific...