Curated OER
Does Security Mean Safer? Exploring Issues of Security in Public Places
Learners explore various scenarios that may or may not make them suspicious in the post-September 11 world, and discuss and write position papers about a fatal shooting involving air marshals and a mentally ill passenger.
Curated OER
Issues Awareness
Students work together to create a survery about environmental issues in their community. They calculate and graph the results. They discuss the importance of surveys to engineers.
Curated OER
Cloning and Related Issues
Eighth graders research information on cloning and the surrounding issues online. They analyze the issues surrounding cloning and present their point of view with supporting details in a Powerpoint presentation.
Hackers Lesson Plan Template
Describe the threat of viruses to computer/ network.
Illustrate the methods for avoiding attacks.
Explain the consequences of social, illegal, and unethical uses of technology (e.g., piracy; illegal downloading; licensing...
Curated OER
Showdown on the Frontier
Especially critical following a series of shootings in schools, theaters, and religious buildings, it's safe to say that we need to evaluate the current laws on gun control. Eighth graders read a New York Times article in order to better...
Curated OER
Who Knows? Your Privacy in the Information Age
Teach young adults how to become advocates for their privacy in the modern information age. In a series of five lessons, learners explore their beliefs and opinions about privacy vs. the actual laws regarding who has the right to access...
Curated OER
Increase Kindness, Defeat Bullying: Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation
High-interest content captures your most reluctant readers and class participants. Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation, in collaboration with Harvard University, seeks to nurture a culture of kindness and reduce bullying. Excerpts from...
Media Smarts
Unit Two: Celebrities and World Issues
Develop media smarts by considering the power of celebrity involvement in world issues. A look at the work of such celebrities as Angelina Jolie, Oprah, and Bono prepare learners to develop their own media campaign for a global...
Curated OER
Favorite Sports and Athletes: an Introduction to Sports Media
Even young children watch sports and like team logos and products. It's never too early to think critically about what's onscreen. This exercise develops awareness that media communicate values (i.e. who participates in sports and who...
Curated OER
Campaign Signs and Pranksters
Pupils interview a selected candidate and find out his or her views on important issues and what he/she hopes to convey to voters. They write and design campaign flyers. Students create final mock-ups of the materials.
Curated OER
Some see art, some see vandalism
Young scholars employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. Students conduct research on issues and interests...
Curated OER
Expanding the Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Introduce the class to the Civil Rights Movement by taking a critical look at the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. They will pay close attention to the role women played in organizing the boycott and bringing national attention to the...
Curated OER
Football game seating: Security or Restriction
Students read the Ohio High School Athletic Association Sportsmanship Resource Guide, paying particular attention to what it says for School Reporters. They then write a news article about the issue presented.
Curated OER
That #!%@! English class
Students research the Alameda story. They interview English teachers, curriculum experts, parents, etc. to view their intake on the story line. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions on a...
Curated OER
Prom king...or not?
Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to...
Curated OER
The Great Debate
Groups of learners investigate the persuasive genre of writing as they research and present on an issue. They research the Internet (possible websites are included) for a topic and locate information to present to the opposing team. In...
Curated OER
Understanding Suicide
Suicide is a real issue in many teens' lives. Help your upper graders cope, help, and help their friends when thoughts of suicide arise. They discuss the topic as a class, complete a worksheet, and learn what to do if someone they (or...
Curated OER
Food Preservation: Food Science, Canning, Gardening
Learners consider the procedures and safety issues involved in food preservation. They conduct experiments in canning, freezing and drying. If everyone can preserve food utilizing a variety of methods and science principles, the...
Curated OER
Recycling plastic into wood
Learners participate in a writing prompt for the purpose of attacking the issue of recycling. The use of plastic is considered in comparison to other recyclable resources. Students answer some guided questions in the form of a paper.
Curated OER
Career Connection: Optometrist, Ophthalmologist, Optician
Discuss vision-related careers with this resource. Learners talk about the work of optometrists, ophthalmologists, and opticians. They practice using the vision charts and tools that these medical professionals use to diagnose issues....
California Department of Education
What’s A Hot Job?
What jobs are the next best thing? Curious career scholars explore their options in lesson three of a five-part series. Pupils research job trends and labor statistics before discussing the factors that influence occupation trends.
Curated OER
Harriet Tubman
Students study the history of the United States in the 1800s, including the issue of slavery. They discover that the Underground Railroad was a network of people and hiding places in the United States and Canada, set up to help escaping...
Curated OER
Supporting Opinions: Handling the End of a Friendship
Four thought-provoking questions encourage readers to develop and support their opinions about strategies to end a friendship after exploring excerpts from a New York Times article. The reading is brief so this could be a lead-in to...
Curated OER
A Little Reminder to Take With You
High schoolers use information already gathered on a specific public health issue to create a public service message in the form of a bookmark. They consult multiple sources to compile sufficient information to create the public service...