It's a neat idea, but the task of designing a system for filling jars with consistent specific amounts of a product may be a little out of reach, especially for younger pupils. Intended as an engineering design lesson, this may be better...

It's "Green light, go!" with this lesson! STEM classes are illuminated with the history of traffic signals and how the engineering design has improved over time. They also learn about patents for new inventions. Finally, they research in...

The battle at the Alamo may be one of the most famous military campaigns in Texas history, but it is by no means the only one. As part of their study of the military history of Texas, class members research less-well-known sites, locate...

Improve reading comprehension with a set of ESL worksheets. Kids read through various passages, note which facts are true or false, mark their opinion on two statements, and write a short reply based on a writing prompt.

There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator. Learners review operations with fractions and ensure they have the skills needed to progress in the course. Taking the time now to review these concepts allows individuals to...

Arctic sea ice reflects 80 percent of sunlight, striking it back into space; with sea ice melting, the world's oceans become warmer, which furthers global warming. These activities explore how humans are impacting ecosystems around the...

The first remote sensors were people in hot air balloons taking photographs of Earth to make maps. Expose middle school learners to space exploration with the use of remote sensing. Groups explore and make observations of a new...

Examine the use of photolithography in the fabrication of circuit boards and other components. An advanced activity teaches pupils a process for transferring a pattern onto a surface. Using UV light and a light reactive substance,...

Almost every phone has GPS installed, but a large number of teens don't know how the technology works. An initial activity illustrates how GPS determines a location on Earth. Scholars then apply trilateration procedures to a...

Introduce learners to the debate format with an activity that uses the National Park Service's controversial Channel Islands restoration program as a topic. Class members learn how to generate provocative debate questions, how to prepare...

"Neuroscientists consider Cajal as important to their discipline as Einstein is to physics." The first of four lessons has scholars view Santiago Ramon y Cajal's drawings of neurons. They reflect and respond to the art through writing...

What skills are necessary to interact with different types of text? Twenty-first century learners live in a digital world and must develop a whole new set of skills to develop media literacy. Class members engage in a series of...

Why do psychologists conduct experiments in controlled laboratory settings? High schoolers gain an understanding of the importance of controls with an activity that involves naturalistic observations with no imposed controls.

Enzymes: not just for breaking chemicals apart. Young biologists perform an experiment on potatoes. They first remove starch from potato extract. They then add the resulting liquid to samples of glucose-1-phosphate, glucose, maltose, and...

Have you ever noticed a news story revolves around an essential question? Scholars research methods of reporting historical events. Working in groups, they use an interactive module to gather information on a historical topic, uncovering...

The Civil War made slavery illegal, but all ex-slaves were not totally free. Scholars visit eight different classroom stations to uncover life during the Reconstruction Era in America. Groups discover items such as Black Codes, 13th,...

Understanding different verb tenses begins with knowing how to decode words. A lesson on the -ed suffix with unchanging base words introduces readers to the past tense. Teachers present the skill with oral reading and spelling...

Individually, letters have their own sounds, but when combined with other letters, those sounds completely change. Introduce letter combinations with a activity that asks learners to search for combinations in familiar words and use oral...

Visualize vibrations within the classroom. Pupils see the connection between sound and waves. The learners use a tuning fork in two different ways to demonstrate the waves associated with sound. Scholars see how the sound waves from a...

The increasing number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, red cards, and ejections from games points out the need for activities that help young people recognize behaviors that exemplify good sportsmanship. For homework, class members...

Conflicts happen. Learning to deal with them positively, manage anger, and communicate feelings is the focus of a lesson that gives high schoolers the tools they need for conflict resolution. After reading a series of related articles,...

Young scientists meet Edward Alexander Bouchet who, in 1876, was the first African American to receive a PhD in Physics. This two-part instructional activity first looks at the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois about...

Through reading a variety of news articles and other informational texts, learners discover the political turmoil and intense ethnic and religious tensions that envelop the Ivory Coast today. Class members research the historical...

Extend the concept of exponents to irrational numbers. In the fifth installment of a 35-part module, individuals use calculators and rational exponents to estimate the values of 2^(sqrt(2)) and 2^(pi). The final goal is to show that the...