Students use data to find the best renewable energy potential.  In this solar energy instructional activity students import data into Excel and explain how solar energy is beneficial. 

Learners use NASA satellite data to compare water vapor over the United States.  In this data analysis lesson students use an Excel spreadsheet to map their data. 

Explore U.S. geography with your class by viewing a documentary. Show a portion of the Ken Burns documentary "The National Parks," and identify the individuals responsible for keeping the parks in order. Elementary and middle schoolers...

Discover how government and the European Union works with this interactive activity. Small groups form to represent a country and create a profile. The instructor presents an issue to discuss and potential politicians then develop...

Decrease risky behavior and inform your secondary Special Ed class about AIDS/HIV. They talk about germs, AIDS, transmission, and staying safe. Developmentally disabled individuals need to be informed about safe sex and disease...

When you buy a home for $100,000, you pay $100,000—right?  On the list of important things for individuals to understand, the lesson presents the concept of interest rates and loan amortization using spreadsheets and online sources....

Add some writing to your class's reading of Cold Sassy Tree! With this plan, readers assume the role of journalist and create a segment of a paper with their peers. Suggested segments are included, and a worksheet dividing the text into...

What do you do when you are alone and the phone rings? How do you handle an emergency situation? Learners discuss and practice how to use the phone when they are home alone. They use clear communication, look up phone numbers, and talk...

Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...

Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...

Which materials are best for groundwater runoff, and which are best for percolation? Discuss the water table with several experiments about different types of soil, pollution, precipitation, and filtration. The experiments assign...

Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a thing with feathers” is the focus of a series of activities that model for learners how close reading can lead to understanding. The whole class plays with the metaphor, groups talk about the author’s...

There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts lesson presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The pictures...

Is there a correlation between a country's wealth and the extent of its ecological footprint? What exactly constitutes an ecological footprint, and how does one country stack up against the rest? This is a unique lesson to incorporate...

Alphabet insects! Who has ever heard of such a thing? Get ready because your class is going to research insects that start with a specific letter of the alphabet. In small groups, they'll use the Internet and reference texts to locate...

How do different religions offer explanations for what happens when we die? Invite your learners to consider the variance and complexity of religious beliefs, and to research and compare/contrast the concept of death and afterlife...

Imagine being a war photographer embedded in World War I. How do you see your role? How might your photos influence that study of the war? Of history? Class members select a photograph, adopt the perspective of the photographer, and...

Don't be put off by the fact that the World War I propaganda posters in this packet are Canadian and some of them are even in French. All the better, in fact, to see the techniques. The richly detailed plan has instructors model...

Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...

Study the vocabulary from Carl Hiaasen's Hoot with an activity featuring synonyms and antonyms. Kids fill in a graphic organizer for each word, prompting critical thinking as they find additional ways to put the word into context.

What makes a place safe? What makes a setting effective? Explore the safe spaces and descriptive language with a prereading activity for Willa Cather's My Antonia. The teacher describes his or her own safe space and then prompts pupils...

Piece by piece young scholars build a basic understanding of fractions in a Common Core-designed elementary math lesson. Through a series of hands-on activities and journaling exercises, and with the help of multiple...

Discover activities to help learners increase self-awareness, build peer and family relations, and develop positive self-esteem. Here you'll find six suggestions for instilling a sense of confidence and self awareness in youngsters. Each...

The third lesson in the three-part series on HIV/AIDS and other STDs considers how these diseases are passed, how to protect against them, and risky and safe behaviors. The discussion of condom use and sexual behaviors are explicit.