Students complete a unit of lessons that examine the goals of the Americans during the Revolutionary War. They explore an online interactive map of major campaigns, read and analyze primary source documents, and analyze diplomatic and...

Students investigate the goals and methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee and offer an opinion regarding whether their investigation of Hollywood was justifiable.

What can one learn about a planet based on a small surface sample? Learners will explore artifacts from a mystery planet and see what they can determine about the planet based on the evidence in front of them. 

Learners participate in a lab experiment with gummy worms. In groups, they record the qualitative and quantitative observations during the lab. They use their senses to make inferences about the experiment and share them with the class.

Students examine the case of a map making expedition. In groups, they read a case study on "The Lost Gorge" in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. They examine maps and determine where the error in the map-making occured to end...

Eighth graders implement plot summary organizers to identify essential elements such as conflict and resolution in literature. In pairs, they retell fairy tales to each other and complete plot summaries about them. As students read new...

Could your class identify an old-fashioned can opener? What about a rotary phone,...

High schoolers view images of New Deal programs to see its successes. They work in groups to create captions for the images and suggest captions that might indicate different meanings.

Fifth graders research life in Alaska and compare life there to their lives in this lesson. They read "Julie of the Wolves." They research through the novel and other reference books facts about the Alaskan climate and geography. They...

Students build an aquatic ecosystem using large glass pickle jars.  In this ecology lesson, students build and ecosystem then observe and collect data on the habitats.   In this long term project students observe a...

Pupils observe and analyze the life cycle and metamorphosis of the Painted Lady Butterfly. They write observation journal entries three times a week and summarize what they observed. Using KidPix computer software they create pictures to...

Students measure and analyze leaves from various environments. They discuss the environments, and make inferences about environmental variables that could have contributed to the differences in leaf size and texture.

Learners examine the differences between snow and rain. In this precipitation lesson plan, students measure one inch of rain and snow to calculate the amount of liquid water. Learners use a snowfall "conversion" chart to measure how much...

Students describe examples of the relationship between structure and function in living systems, particularly with regard to specialized tissues and organs. They describe examples of biological diversity and adaptation of organisms with...

First graders observe two similar plants as one gets water and the other does not. They make predictions and chart the growth of each. They draw pictures of the plants after one week.

High schoolers make observations on the effects of a small, medium and large weight on the movement of a wig-wag apparatus. They use their observations to develop a generalized inference of the effect weight on movement patterns.

Students receive copies of the Time Series Observations to use for note-taking. They work in small groups to discuss what they see when the outside lights of Alvin are turned on, and off, where the bacteria may have come from. They view...

Students make observations about Mystery Boxes that their teacher has made up and describes the motion of the object inside the box and hypothesizes it's shape based on their observations.

Students observe artifacts from Fort St. Louis at a website in order to make inferences about the people who lived there. They paint pottery in the style which might have been used by one of the cultural groups who inhabited the fort.

Students investigate what happens to solids and liquids when they change from one form to another. The amount od space taken by frozen water begins the discussion and students are led to formulate their own hypothesis to research.

An inventive and interesting lesson on the water cycle (and other cycles associated with it), is here for you. After doing a well-designed hands-on inquiry in class, learners also identify organisms and processes that are involved in the...

Students develop their own research questions dealing with specific variables provided by the instructor; students conduct bird counts using two kinds of birdseed, and analyze possible effects such as abundance or diversity.

Young scholars study thermal energy and energy transfer to sea ice processes. In this energy transfer instructional activity, students make their own ice cream and discuss energy transfer and thermal energy. Young scholars view a...

The nitrogen cycle is the focus of a well-designed science instructional activity. In it, learners see that plants and animals produce waste products and decompose after death. Many of the waste products include nitrogen which is absobed...