Provide a historical context for the political unrest between Russia and Ukraine that began in late 2013. Learners review their prior knowledge and chronicle new understandings with a KWL chart, watch a video explaining the Ukrainian...

Emerging engineers read about Arduino software and how it can be used. Then they follow a nine-step tutorial to connect an Arduino board to a computer and put it to work! The objective is to code a program that will cause an LED to...

Through detailed secondary source reading material and an interactive "true/false" activity, learners discover the depth and complexity of the executive branch in the United States government. Topics covered include executive...

Take time to remind your young learners of the valuable understanding that each branch of the United States government is really composed of other citizens. The reading material and worksheets of this resource cover the importance of...

Engage your pupils in short story and short film. Using a still from the film as inspiration, pairs compose short stories, which they later share and compare with other members of the class. They then watch the film and respond to a...

What would you do if you got an extra day every week? Partners share some information about their routines and lives and write compositions about one another based on the information. Each partner tries to guess what the other person...

Learners gain a realistic understanding of what is required for independent living. They begin by setting up a budget based on needs and lifestyle, and then use worksheets and a presentation to practice such skills as reading a...

Class members read a series of primary and secondary source materials to examine the effects of Queen Anne's War, also know as the War of Spanish Succession, on the Pocumtucks and other Native Americans in the area of Deerfield, MA.

Master Jane Austen's language from A to Z with an activity based on Pride and Prejudice. As kids read the novel, they find (or are assigned) words that begin with each letter of the alphabet, and create one-page documents that show...

Analyze the presence of negative stereotypes and biased reporting in news media, and how this affects one's understanding of other cultures. Learners read newspaper excerpts and quotes from famous personalities to discuss...

Learn about character traits with a biopoem activity. Based on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, the activity prompts learners to fill in the blanks of a poem form to describe themselves.

Take the class outside with a bird watching lesson. Young ornithologists participate in an outdoor activity that guides them on how to observe and study the feathered animals. After walking around school campus, bird watchers provide a...

There's a container for every matter—liquid, solid, and gas. Pupils design three different containers, each with the capability to hold one of the states of matter, and share their design with the class.     

All of the gas giant's atmospheres consist of hydrogen and helium, the same gases that make up all stars. The third in a series of 22, the activity challenges pupils to make scale models of the interiors of planets in order to...

What makes a source primary or secondary? Middle schoolers read a definition of each term before exploring different examples and applying their knowledge to a research project.

The Kuril islands stretch from Japan to Russia, and the ongoing dispute about their jurisdiction prevents many scientific research studies. Scholars learn to create a topographic profile of a specific area around their schools. Then they...

Have women always had the same educational opportunities as their male counterparts? Young historians read an 1819 essay by Emma Willard on the state of female education in the 19th century before discussing their views regarding women's...

Why did so many go along with Nazi policies during World War II? An investigatory unit includes four handouts, reading analyses, classroom discussion topics, and intriguing philosophical questions, helping learners understand the...

Imagine hearing someone claim an event like the Holocaust never happened. Pupils use audio podcasts and reading passages to dive into the lives of those impacted by the Holocaust of World War II. Using the information they gather, class...

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 novels of John Green cover the gamut of teenager emotions. A guide to his works provides classroom lesson plans for the novels Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, The Fault in Our Stars, and Paper Towns. Each lesson...

A lesson challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws leads the...

For democracies, it is both the best and the worst of times. As part of a study of the challenges facing democracies, young political scientists seek first to define democracy, and then to consider the relationship between democracy and...

Is American growing fatter? Scholars begin with a mini lesson on reading charts and graphs using information about Human Body Fat in United States. They then transfer what they learned to charts and graphs using  harmful and...