Curated OER
Natives of Indiana
Fourth graders participate in discussions about the Native Peoples who inhabited what is now Indiana. In this Native American lesson, 4th graders discuss the social and cultural structures of these Native Americans. They locate the...
Curated OER
Electromagnetic and Physical Waves
Young scholars compare and contrast electromagnetic and physical waves. In this wave lesson plan, students discover that all waves reflect, refract, and diffract energy. Young scholars work in small groups to experiment with waves and...
Curated OER
Reaction Time 2: Zap!
Learners explore critical thinking by conducting a reaction time experiment. In this human brain lesson, students utilize a timed Internet worksheet activity to research how fast their brain works when answering questions. Learners share...
Curated OER
Assessing Presenting the Mask
Eighth graders use a software program to recreate a mask they made in art class. Individually, they write a paper describing their mask with an loose illustration. They combine the pictures of each mask into a class book for others to view.
Curated OER
Endangered Species - Can We Help Them Survive?
Pupils, in groups, select an animal that has been identified as endangered and then identify its characteristics. They discuss why the animal has become endangered, evaluate adaptations for its survival and include an illustration.
Curated OER
Studying the ABC's of the Environment
Third graders choose a letter of the alphabet and find an environmental topic to research that begins with the same letter. They prepare an article and illustration about their topic and compile them into a class environmental alphabet...
Curated OER
Vocabulary: Variety and Venture
Students locate the definitions and synonyms using a variety of activities that involve handheld computers and specific software. They read and discuss definitions, and create an illustration/animation for assigned words.
Curated OER
The Differences Between Turtles and Tortoises
First graders differentiate between turtles and tortoises. In this turtles and tortoises lesson students are visited by a turtle and a tortoise. Students write a letter with an illustration after the animals visit the class.
Curated OER
Poetry Elements
Need a quick review of some of the elements of poetry? Eleven key terms are defined and illustrated.
Curated OER
Frog
For this sentence completion worksheet, students use the words "fat," "thin," "jumping" and "swimming" to complete four sentences about a frog. An illustration accompanies each vocabulary word.
Akron Art Museum
Storytelling Resist
The illustrations of Ezra Jack Keats in The Snowy Day inspire young artists to examine shapes in illustrations and to use these shapes to create their own watercolor resist painting.
Illustrative Mathematics
Centerpiece
Learners hear wedding bells in this problem set, as they help a fictional bride plan the centerpieces for her wedding reception. Algebra is married to geometry as volume, aesthetics, and budgeting all come into play. Learners are...
Illustrative Mathematics
Joining Two Midpoints of Sides of a Triangle
Without ever using the actual term, this exercise has the learner develop the key properties of the midsegment of a triangle. This task leads the class to discover a proof of similar triangles using the properties of parallel...
Illustrative Mathematics
Building an Explicit Quadratic Function by Composition
Use equivalent expressions to reveal information about their graphs. Pupils verify that two quadratic functions are equivalent. By comparing the two expressions, they determine the vertex, the zeros, the y-intercept, and the...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Servings of Oatmeal?
Here is another way to illustrate division of a whole number by a unit fraction. In this case, the problem is asking if there are so many servings per cup, how many servings are in a package of multiple cups. Learners are to model their...
Illustrative Mathematics
How Many Cells Are in the Human Body?
Investigating the large numbers of science is the task in a simple but deep activity. Given a one-sentence problem set-up and some basic assumptions, the class sets off on an open-ended investigation that really gives some...
Illustrative Mathematics
Three Composing/Decomposing Problems
Practice composing and decomposing numbers in base-ten using three word problems. Each problem presents a different scenario requiring learners to explain their thinking, find the number of ones, and find out different ways to make a...
Illustrative Mathematics
Sammy's Chipmunk and Squirrel Observations
Here is a fun project. Sammy observes a chipmunk and a squirrel to see how many holes each needs in order to stash the same number of acorns. Scholars could find the answer algebraically or create a table to analyze the...
Illustrative Mathematics
US Garbage, Version 1
An interesting example of a discrete function and how it is applies to the real world. This could easily make a good collaborative lesson with an environmental science class. Practice reading a table and drawing a scatter plot make up...
Illustrative Mathematics
Calculations with Sine and Cosine
Practice makes perfect and perfecting those trigonometric functions are vital in trigonometry. The task requires evaluating cosine and sine values at common degree measures before looking at the results. Is there a pattern when the...
Illustrative Mathematics
Identifying Quadratic Functions
Put your high schoolers to the test and see how well they know their quadratic functions. With excellent thought-provoking questions, learners use what they know about creating quadratic equations based off different pieces of...
Illustrative Mathematics
Sum and Difference Angle Formulas
Need practice deriving trigonometric angle formulas? With this worksheet, pupils derive the sum and difference formulas for cosine and tangent and the difference formula for sine. Scholars use the sine sum formula and other known...
Illustrative Mathematics
Building a General Quadratic Function
Rewrite a quadratic function to easily see the transformations involved. The instructional task takes a general quadratic function and rewrites it into a form that shows the translations and scaling of the parent quadratic function. The...
Illustrative Mathematics
What's the Point?
Given a certain amount of points, how many line segments can you connect between them? How many close geometric figures can you create? These are the types of questions learners are asked to solve in a assessment-based learning exercise.