Curated OER
Couch Potato or Inertia Victim?
Sixth graders how primary research is carried out. They design a simple survey questionnaire to interview people about their week average television watching time. They analyze the results and write a report based on the information.
Curated OER
Merging Art and Science?
Students approach science through artwork. In this art and science lesson students work together to develop theories and gather data.
Curated OER
What's it Like Inside the Sun?
Students perform experiment in which they model convection as it occurs in our Sun. They also explain that convection acts where the effect of gravity and heat are present (low density fluids can rise and cool, and high density fluids...
Curated OER
Introduction to Plates, Axles, and Gears
Students are introduced to the function and design of the following Lego pieces: beams, bricks, plates, axles, tires, hubs and bushings. They then work with a partner to build something using only these pieces.
Curated OER
Go LEGO!
Young scholars utilize LEGO's to replace cards for a game that replicates "Go Fish".
Curated OER
Crafts, From Gallery to Classroom: Landscape Painting with James Palmersheim
High schoolers create their own landscape paintings. Students will learn various techniques to create an effective foreground, middleground, and background.
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Step into the Painting: Social Studies, Literature, and Art
Travel back in American history to the era of slavery and abolition. After reading about the Underground Railroad, young historians examine a painting depicting the event, and write a narrative from the point of view of a person in the...
Curated OER
Journal of Time: A Historical Perspective
Analyze the setting behind the Great Depression in California with Pam Munoz Ryan's Esperanza Rising. Middle schoolers assess the protagonist during her coming-of-age moments, while migrant workers manage the hardships of the...
Curated OER
Characterization in Literature
Students discover characterization techniques and methods. In this characterization lesson plan, students choose favorite fiction characters and discuss what makes a character come alive. Students then describe a family member or a...
Curated OER
Reliving History through Slave Narratives
Helpful for an American literature or history unit, this lesson prompts middle schoolers to examine slavery in the United States. They read slave narratives that were part of the Federal Writers' Project and then conduct their own...
Cornell University
Resolution—Not Just for the New Year
Experiment with optical resolution using an inquiry-based lesson. Young researchers calculate fellow classmates' optical resolutions. They apply the information to understand the inner workings of optical instruments.
Curated OER
Plants in Texas: Then and Now
Seventh graders discuss continuity and change, identify various plant materials, and compare and contrast ways in which early people used plants in Texas in prehistoric times with ways that modern man in Texas uses plants today.
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Glidden's Patent Application for Barbed Wire
Learners discuss the invention of barbed wire and how it affected various groups of peoples in the U.S. after its invention.
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Guess My Piece -working with Legos
Students participate in guessing their partners' hidden Lego pieces from their verbal clues. They work in partners to accomplish their goals. They are meeting a variety of math standards by completing this lesson.
Curated OER
Learning About Our Five Senses
Students study the sense of touch and various degrees of heat. They design a model that displays how the human hand reacts to heat using a touch sensor.
Curated OER
The Undiscovered Planet
Young scholars find a planetary object using star fields. In this investigative lesson students determine the distance to an object using trigonometric parallax.
Curated OER
Maps of Indian Territory, the Dawes Act, and Will Rogers' Enrollment Case File
Students, in groups, analyze one map at a time, first the 1885 map, then the 1891 map. After they have completed the analysis sheets, they compare the two maps and answer questions imbedded in the plan.
Curated OER
What's Cookin' at Honey Creek?
Fourth graders are introduced to the process of prehistoric hot rock cooking in earth ovens on the Edwards Plateau of Texas. They explain the steps used in the hot rock cooking process.
Curated OER
It Counts
Students assign numbers to describe objects. In this number lesson, students assign numbers to objects and compare more, less, and equal values. They write down descriptions of plants including the number of leaves and height of the...
Curated OER
The Food Guide Pyramid - Daily Food Journals
Students examine the Food Guide Pyramid, then keep daily food journals. They evaluate their current nutritional habits and create plans for developing healthier eating habits.
Curated OER
What Are My Daily Calorie Needs?
Students explore what their personal nutritional requirements are. For this exploratory lesson students calculate their total daily energy needs and energy outputs and study how age is related to changing this.
Curated OER
Rain Forests: A Disappearing Act?
Students examine and locate rainforests on maps, and research the patterns of their destruction. They develop a bar graph of rainfall and temperature data, write a journal entry, and research the people, animals, and plants/products of...
Curated OER
Three Gorges Dam: Will China Sink or Swim?
Seventh graders study the Three Gorges Dam, which is the largest dam built in the world. They examine how the dam impacts China as it prepares for the 21st century.
Curated OER
Building a Telescope
Young scholars construct a simple refracting telescope. They calculate the magnification.