Teach Engineering
Strong-Arm Tactics
Experience collecting rock samples using a robotic arm with an activity that has pairs work together to operate a robotic arm. One pupil serves as the eyes and the other operates the controller. The objective is to be the fastest pair to...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Reflecting on What I Learned About Climate Change
After three eye-opening lessons about our environment, scholars revisit a 10-question survey, reflect on their new-found knowledge, and take action by writing to a representative or creating a public service announcement about...
Theodore Roosevelt Association
Theodore Roosevelt: A Presidential Timeline
Throughout his life and presidency, Theodore Roosevelt contributed to the America we know today in so many ways. An adaptable lesson prompts young historians to create a chronological timeline of Roosevelt's contributions to different...
Partners Against Hate
Building Community and Combating Hate
Put a little love in your classroom! Help middle school scholars understand differences among people and build a sense of community within their school through 10 well-organized lessons. Each unique lesson incorporates writing,...
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Talking Safety
Chances are, many of the teens in your class have jobs or want to have jobs in the near future. Educate them about the hazards and emergencies that could occur in various workplaces with a set of lessons published by the National...
Annenberg Foundation
Pre-Columbian America
What was life like in America before Christopher Columbus discovered the New World? Scholars investigate life in the Americas through the eyes of Native Americans in the first lesson of a 22-part series covering America's history. Using...
King County
Reproductive System
It's every health and science teacher's favorite subject to cover: the reproductive system. This comprehensive lesson introduces adolescents to the reproductive anatomy of men and women with the help of a series of diagrams,...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Ecosystems
Explore the Earth's different ecosystems through four lessons, an assessment, and extension activities. Lessons include informative text and step-by-step instructions to apply knowledge in interactive, and thought provoking ways; such as...
Bowland
My Music
Scholars investigate how the tempo of music affects heartbeats. Groups develop hypotheses about music and its connection to heartbeats before carrying out an experiment. They analyze and present data from their investigations.
Polk Bros Foundation
American Presidents
Emanuel Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware. Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln. What do these works of art tell us about the character of these American Presidents? After examining the techniques the...
Curated OER
Arkansas Civil War Bandits and Outlaws
Young historians study civilian Arkansas during the Civil War. They look at the many challenges they faced to keep their homes in order while the men were at war. Learners hear stories of bands of outlaws who ravaged the state during...
Kenan Fellows
What Element Would You Be?
Primo Levi wrote a collection of short stories comparing his life from Italy to Auschwitz to elements in the periodic table. Pupils read an excerpt from his book and research the characteristics of various elements. Then, they make a...
Middle Tennessee State University
John Brown: Hero or Villain?
"Love it or leave it." "You're either for us or against us." Rhetoric and it's polarizing effects are the focus of a instructional activity that uses John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry as an exemplar. Groups examine primary source...
National Park Service
Making Choices
What factors go into a decision to enter a war? Use a collection of primary source documents and images to prompt a discussion about the American Revolution and the reasons for entering a war against Britain.
NOAA
Wet Maps
How do oceanographers make maps under water? Junior explorers discover the technologies and processes involved in creating bathymetric maps in part three of a five-part series designed for fifth- and sixth-grade pupils. The lesson...
Digital Writing and Research Lab's – Lesson Plans
Teaching Close Reading through Short Composition/Revision
This activity may have writers evaluate short compositions, but their subjects are quite tall: great Americans. Pupils read one another's compositions and closely examine how specific phrases and diction contribute to shaping American...
Macmillan Education
Your Year Covered
Feeling stuck? Want to energize the class? Use activities such as quizzes and fill-in-the-blank worksheets to get class members' attention with a year's worth of holiday celebrations. From Mother's Day to Robert Burns's birthday,...
National Park Service
A Tale of Two Men
Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores were both born in 1858, and both came to the Dakota territory in 1883, but they influenced the developing country of America in different ways. Elementary and middle schoolers apply written and...
Curated OER
On The Go! Forces and Motion
Students create a car using physics. In this forces and motion lesson, students create a car and test which changes in design change the performance of the car. Students complete a graphic organizer with the different changes...
Annenberg Foundation
Teaching Geography: Workshop 4—North Africa/Southwest Asia
Can Jerusalem be equitably organized? Can Israel and Palestine be successfully partitioned? Part one of a two-part workshop looks at the geo-political history of Jerusalem while Part two investigates Egypt's dependence of the Nile River...
Library of Virginia
Life as a Liberated People
Imagine having no control over your life and then suddenly having to provide for yourself. Such was the challenge faced by many American slaves after emancipation. Class members are asked to consider these challenges are they examine...
Curated OER
Organization of Nations Project
Learners research the priorities and needs of an assigned country. They come together and debate current events from the point of view of the country they are representing.
Curated OER
Seals: From the National To the Local
Third graders investigate official government symbols by completing a scavenger hunt. In this U.S. Government activity, 3rd graders participate in a scavenger hunt in which they locate seals or logos in their community....
Curated OER
Abuse and Neglect: United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child
Students analyze the consequences of inadequate or inappropriate care giving (e.g., the effects of neglect or abuse). They analyze the influences that have impact on growth and development during adolescence. Pupils analyze services...