Curated OER
Keeping an Appointment
Students studey about Bernard B. Kerik's decision to withdraw his nomination as homeland security secretary by President Bush. They hold a mock vetting process for other potential nominees for this position.
Curated OER
Poets of Christmas Past
Students consider the meanings of Christmas by reading an op-ed. As a class, they then create a sequel to the poem "A Visit from Saint Nicholas," in which "Mamma" tells a story about the history of Christmas.
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Local Pride in a Guide
Students examine the distinctive cultural and historical attributes of Boston and Philadelphia. They research the history, geography and culture of their town or city to create a booklet.
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Got the Picture?
Students explore the power of photographic images to influence public opinion. Then, using both news images and personal photographs, they create dual timelines documenting their own life experiences and memories.
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We Were Here First
Students explore the legal and historical experience of native peoples living in the United States. They write a letter to their United States senator commenting on the Hawaiian bill using information gathered during their research.
Curated OER
It's Just a Game?
Students consider their attitudes toward concrete and abstract violence in the media before developing hypotheses that assess the effect of gender and age on people's attitudes toward such violence and designing a survey to test those...
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Order in the School
Students consider goods and services that might be at the base of successful Web-based delivery services geared to students their age while they are in school. They act as entrepreneurs to develop plans for such services and create...
Curated OER
Crash Test Smarties
Students share hypotheses about the variables needed to produce a collision between two moving objects. They simulate the impact of a moving object on an object that creates a spray of debris, and simulate a NASA Deep Impact study.
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Mission Discovery
Students examine the changes to the space shuttle Discovery and its history by creating a classroom exhibition about NASA's space shuttle program. They create an informative and attractive invitation about the gallery for outside visitors.
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QUALITY OR QUANTITY
Students share opinions about the criteria they consider important in an online search engine. Using Google and Yahoo, they investigate various subjects and compare their search results. To synthesize their findings, students prepare...
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FINDING A RESOLUTION
Students examine detailed Moon and Earth views provided by the NASA-sponsored "World Wind" computer program. They work in groups to create maps of different scales using landmarks of their choice, and challenge their classmates to...
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War Fair
Students gather a general understanding of terms related to international rules of warfare and human rights, then discuss hypothetical applications of those rules. They write letters expressing their opinion on the current application of...
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For Richer or for Poorer
Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
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Do the Right Thing
Students consider the relationship between gang violence and the factors that can contribute to its increase. After researching the issues behind one such factor, students make recommendations that may help reduce gang violence.
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Stand Up For Her Rights
Students consider how different cultural and religious groups perceive girls' education. By addressing differences and identifying common ground, students attempt to arrive at a philosophy of girls' education that takes varying...
Curated OER
People Who Need People
Students study The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund and several immigrant families who have benefited from it. They assess needs of people in their own community and create a plan for an organization to help address some of those needs.