Curated OER
Getting the Word Out
Discuss and generate blogs in this technology instructional activity. Middle and high schoolers explore examples of blogs and create their own blogs. Use this instructional activity throughout the year to reinforce concepts from your...
Center Science Education
Weather and Climate Data Exploration
Access local temperature data online, graph averages, and critique it. Learners listen to a scenario where weather and climate are confused, and then answer questions to differentiate the two. The lesson itself is compact, but there is a...
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Discussion Web
Is Yuki a selfish character? Analyze her motivation and behavior during a unit on Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori. Readers fill out two sides of a graphic organizer with reasons why or why not she is selfish, and then come up with a...
Curated OER
Priorities and Goal Setting
Students discuss their goals and the steps needed to achieve their goals. They list the internal and external forces that may help or hinder their goals. Students prioritize the forces that hinder and/or help them to achieve their goals.
PHET
Planetary Magnetism
What do magnetic fields look like? The best way to learn about magnetic fields is to try identifying them for yourself. Scholars will understand the importance of magnetic fields after completing this experiment. The extension activities...
Curated OER
Introduction to Natural Selection
High schoolers develop an understanding of natural selection, specifically, how it unfolds from generation to generation. They work in small groups to perform an experiment using beans. They use a worksheet imbedded in this plan to guide...
Curated OER
"Twilight" Music Provides Link Between Past And Present
Music appreciation lessons can use modern phenomena like "Twilight" to motivate students.
Curated OER
What's the Buzz About Onomatopoeia?
Tap into onomatopoeia lesson plans to improve students' written expression and create motivating activities.
Curated OER
Understanding Propaganda Throughout History
The exploration of propaganda can provide a motivating way for students to learn about history.
Curated OER
Intolerable Acts
Students examine the implications of North Korea's nuclear testing. They develop a K-W-L chart, read an article, write questions, conduct research on their self-generated questions, and create an exhibit of their findings.
Curated OER
Book Swap
Learners explore the publishing roles of author and illustrator. Stories are written and the illustration done by other students. Answers to several questions act as a motivating force for the creation of the stories.
Curated OER
One Path
Students discover that charge movement through a circuit depends on the resistance and arrangement of the circuit components. In a hands-on activity, students build and investigate the characteristics of series circuits. In another...
Curated OER
Rocks and Their Properties: Day 5
Young scholars demonstrate their knowledge of rock formation processes in varied ways by sharing their cooperative research projects with the class. They generate well-framed questions in response to each presentation.
Curated OER
The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee
Students identify and analyze the motivation behind the African-American students in organizing the sit-in if Greensboro and the formation of the SNCC. Students identify how the generational differences between members of SNCC and other...
Curated OER
Critical Thinking & Writing: Brainstorming
Have your young writers organize their thoughts before writing. They generate ideas through various brainstorming activities prior to writing a mock feature news story for USA Today. A series of USA Today articles debating the level of...
Curated OER
How the West Was One - Three x Four
While this instructional activity provides a motivating and interesting way to review the concept of the order of operations, it involves the use of software called How the West Was One + Three x Four. There are also other resources that...
Teach Engineering
The Fibonacci Sequence and Robots
What better way to introduce the idea of a sequence than with robots! An educational lesson explains the classic Fibonacci sequence before pupils build and program a robot to move. Additionally, the lesson challenges individuals to...
Code.org
Introduction to Data
Data, data everywhere. Challenge your class to begin thinking about data, the ways people collect information, and what we can learn from this data. Class members discuss sources of data and then individuals answer questions in the class...
Curated OER
Explorers (Early European)
Young scholars research and explore the past and its historical roots involving the economic motivations of early European explorers. They assess connections between the current technological advances in transportation and that of the...
Curated OER
Ask a Volunteer!
Students investigate the motivation of volunteers. For this philanthropy lesson, students interview school volunteers on why they volunteer and write thank-you letters to them
Curated OER
Spanish-American Voices in American Poetry
Eighth graders read excerpts from a variety of poems by Hispanic and Spanish authors in Spanish. Individually, they identify any vocabulary they are unfamiliar with and view examples of poetry elements. To end the lesson, they research...
Curated OER
Eek, It leaks!
Students construct model landfill liners out of two-inch strips of garbage bags within resource constraints. The challenge is to construct a bag that will hold one cup of water without leaking. This represents similar challenges that...
Curated OER
Paper Masks/Heads
Middle schoolers examine the processes and beliefs used by different cultures to create works of art. Using the internet, they research the types of arts used by cultures that have been transmitted to future generations. They use...
Curated OER
Related Number Pairs
Third graders use tables to organize and display related pairs of numbers, such as the relationship of the number of insects to the total number of legs. They generate a table of related number pairs based on a real-life situation,...