Nuffield Foundation
Investigating How We See Colour
Can you eyes be fooled into seeing colors that aren't actually there? Budding scientists view a presentation that addresses this topic. They explore how their eyes interpret color through the retinas and messages sent to the brain. They...
Nuffield Foundation
Effect of Size on Uptake by Diffusion
Cell size is limited by the surface area to volume ratio, but why is this true? Scholars measure the surface area and volume of cubes before placing them into liquid. After a set amount of time, they measure the uptake by diffusion for...
Curated OER
Idioms
Use this podcast lesson to familiarize scholars with the characteristics, history, and cultural implications of idioms. As part of the Walking Classroom curriculum, kids listen to a 12-minute podcast as they walk around campus. If you...
Polar Trec
Mini-Ocean Bathymetric Mapping Research Cruise
Middle or high schoolers transform into oceanographers in a week-long simulation. To begin, each group follows directions to create a model of the ocean floor with specified features. Next, the groups prepare to set sail on a research...
Teach With Movies
Title: "Pygmalion" - Topics: Drama/England; World/England
“What do you mean that my language is improper?” Prior to My Fair Lady was Pygmalion. Fair Eliza’s struggles with English, which according to George Bernard Shaw “is not accessible even to Englishmen,” come alive in the 1938 film version...
Curated OER
Energy At Play
If you can find Tinker Toys™, then this may be a fun assignment for your physical science class. Using the construction set and a few other toys, they examine the forces involved when it they are being played with. For each, they...
Curated OER
Introduction to the History of the Holocaust
The Holocaust is unbelievable! Examine this piece of history with your class. Using the Internet, research groups determine the relevance of information presented, compare how different sites present the same information, synthesize...
Curated OER
Public Officials, DUI And Role Models
Students research on Internet and in any available law books to find drunk driving laws in their state, including ramifications of refusing breathalyzer or other tests, identify rights of someone arrested and charged with DUI-related...
Curated OER
Elementary School Health and Wellness Fair
This is a nice idea for high school high schoolers to organize and present a Health and Wellness Fair at a local elementary school. It looks like it would take a lot of organization, but would certainly build community relationships....
Curated OER
Video Lesson
Hats off to Barry for a great idea. He teaches Adapted PE to elementary school children, and when he is absent they often don't get to have PE. So he came up with this great plan to videotape short lessons that his pupils could follow,...
Curated OER
Japanese Festivals and Holidays
Bring the excitement and beauty of Japanese festivals into your classroom. Kids with special needs create calendars that reflect special festivals and holidays common to Japanese culture. They start the project by creating a list of...
Curated OER
"I Believe..." Podcast Style
Use this communication skills lesson plan to emphasize evaluating a speaker's main point and argument. After reading Martin Luther King's, "I Have a Dream Speech" and John F. Kennedy's speech, "I Believe in an America Where the...
Curated OER
Disability in the Media Lesson Plan: Braille
Students determine the workings of the Braille alphabet and how people with visual impairments learn how to use it. In this Braille lesson, students study the associated vocabulary, read about Helen Keller, and complete associated...
Curated OER
Briar Rose: Anticipation Guide
Prepare your readers for Briar Rose with an Anticipation Guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect issues raised by Jane Yolen’s narrative about a young girl’s research into her grandmother’s...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
Identical Twins, Identical Fates?
Can different personal experiences affect our genes? Find out in an intriguing case study about one twin who is diagnosed with mental illness and her identical twin who fears she may suffer the same fate. Designed for college-level...
School Improvement in Maryland
Political Systems: Advantages and Disadvantages
Every political system has advantages and disadvantages. To gain an understanding of these differences, groups investigate the political system of another country—oligarchy, monarchy, dictatorship, parliamentary—and prepare a...
American Constitution Society
Constitution in the Classroom: The Right to Vote
The system of checks and balances is integral to the functionality of the United States government. Learn more about the ways the three branches of the government work together—and about the limitations of their power—with an informative...
Curated OER
# 12 Using Bottled Water as a Problem Solving Exercise in Chemical Identification
Students work in groups of two or three, groups are given four unidentified bottled waters in unmarked containers and the chemical characteristics taken from the label on the bottled waters. They devise and carry out a plan to match the...
Curated OER
Blick Liquid Watercolor
Introduce this abstract art to your class; they must chose ordinary classroom objects and shapes to paint with watercolors. The overlapping effect will create a fun, abstract piece of art!
Curated OER
Lesson Plan Outline for Rainbow Science
Young scientists study light reflection and refraction as they determine the critical angle, the rainbow angle, and color separation in rainbows. Teams record the data they collect in a shared spreadsheet and discuss results with the class.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Driver’s Licenses And Unauthorized Immigrants
Should driver's licenses be granted to unauthorized immigrants? That is the question class members grapple with in a instructional activity that asks them to first read a fact sheet that details the arguments for and against...
Curated OER
Poetry Slam!
Create poems without writing! Young poets create poems using words cut from newspapers, read their poems aloud, and compile them in a book. This lesson allows the teacher to view each learner's creative process and assess their current...
Curated OER
Creative Writing Workshop (Middle, Reading/Writing)
Bring this lesson into your unit about creative writing and precise language. First, middle schoolers create a piece of writing with the help of their classmates. In the second part of this workshop, they edit their own piece of writing....
Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education
Popcorn Economics
Scarcity of resources is a fundamental economics concepts that kids need to understand. You'll use a large bag of popcorn to demonstrate this concept. Have the class come up row-by-row to fill their snack bags with popcorn. By...