Teams use the design process to design, build, and test a model levee to protect the town from a wall of water. A handout provides a price list for the materials learners can use to build their levee within a budget.

Small groups use the engineering design process to build and test a vehicle capable of carrying 250 grams a distance of five meters. The design must allow for the storage of potential energy and turn it into motion,...

Concentrate to determine the best reflector design. Pairs use the engineering design process to build a reflector to increase the current output of a photovotaic panel. Teams arrive at a final design and present it to the class along...

Most adults dread April 15 — tax day! Tax preparation can be intimidating even for adults. Build confidence by leading individuals through the process and then give them a scenario to practice. The exercise uses tax vocabulary to give...

Do you want your budding mathematicians to be able to explain 'why' and not just 'do'? This lesson plan encourages an understanding of the process of elimination. Pupils are expected to understand how and why the elimination method is a...

What is the main difference between an engineer and a technician?  This is one of the driving questions in a plan that proves that analysis at every step of development is crucial to the engineering design process. The lesson...

Create an inclusive living environment with help from picture cards detailing the step-by-step process of dressing and undressing. 

This practical activity helps young citizens learn about pre-registration to vote in elections, discuss the merits and flaws of the pre-registration process, and register themselves. The concluding activity has young voters creating...

Determine the area of a square with quadratics. Pupils use the interactive to visualize the process of completing the square. Scholars build a square area model to represent a quadratic expression then determine the amount that...

Does the accuracy of the first guess make a difference down the line? Learners investigate the effects of the iterative process of finding roots, using Newton's Method. By moving the initial guess of a root on a graph, pupils observe the...

When biologists installed cameras in Gorongosa National Park, they ended up viewing a lot more than the lions they were trying to help! Young ecologists observe one of Africa's most beautiful savanna regions with interactive trail camera...

Rome wasn't built in a day, but researchers can be with proper scaffolding. This writing unit has scholars write a research paper through scaffolding of various parts of the process. Learners begin with identifying a topic and crafting a...

Social media has changed the news publishing process, so how does it affect school news publications? Lesson nine in a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox explores the traditional publishing roles through the lens of social...

The second lesson in a unit on set design focuses on the importance of historical and stylistic research. Working in teams created in the previous session, groups consider what resources they will use as they consider design concepts for...

Make the thought process visible with a handy concept map organizer. As learners develop their main ideas in research, writing, or creative development, they can add details and like ideas to the worksheet as needed.

Just how long did it take the framers to write the Constitution? What role did the drafting process play? Scholars examine various drafts from the Constitutional Convention to gain a better understanding of its formation. Interactive...

Simplification is about factoring. While working with rational expressions, pupils must know how to factor. The video shows how the process of finding common factors in algebraic fractions is similar to finding common factors in...

Trees are the star of a three-step unit celebrating Arbor Day. Step one takes an in-depth look into the structure of a tree, the process of photosynthesis, and the benefits of the leafy giants. Step two challenges scholars to create a...

Speech, speech! Analyzing speeches is no easy task. High schoolers learn the important process of annotation as they work together to analyze Lincoln's inaugural address. Then groups of four work to annotate a second speech at a more...

How do scholars determine if a scientific claim is true? Learners investigate scientific misinformation by watching video clips and reading false advertising claims. They engage in discussion in both class and small group settings to...

Young scholars study the process of water filtration in a three-part STEM lesson. After analyzing samples of dirty water, teams design and build their own filtration systems and measure their efficiency.

Read. Stop. Think. Scholars use a reading strategy to process the challenging text, "The Vietnam Wars." They read a paragraph and then stop to think about the text and its meaning. Readers then go on to work with partners and make notes...

Shake up the writing process with a peer critique. The second of four lessons in the Grade 8 ELA Module 2B, Unit 3 series first has young writers compare their interpretations of a scene from William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's...

Can letter writing really create social change? Pupils create and mail formal letters addressing a specific organization to promote social change they wish to see. Class members reflect on the process and responses they received in small...