Alabama Department of Archives and History
Strange Fruit: Lynching in America
To continue their study of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the beginning of the civil rights movement, class members watch the YouTube video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as an introduction to an examination of lynching in...
Science 4 Inquiry
Carbon and Climate
The carbon cycle is natural and has happened for millions of years, so can humans change it? Young scientists play the role of carbon as they travel through the carbon cycle. They complete two rounds, once before the industrial...
Science 4 Inquiry
Phases of the Moon
The moon takes just over 27 days to orbit around Earth. Young scientists position themselves as the earth as they rotate around the sun and hold the moon. This allows them to observe the patterns and phases of the moon.
Science 4 Inquiry
Levitation Engineers: Exploring Forces
Levitation tricks have been documented from the early 1900s, so how do they do it? Scholars learn about the force of magnetism in an attractive resource. They watch videos and design experiments to understand the strength and...
Foundation for Water & Energy Education
How is Flowing Water an Energy Source? Activity B
Explore the world's water without leaving the classroom! In this second of three uncomplicated but wonderful activities, physical science learners feel the pressure of water. They discover that the deeper the water, the stronger the...
Curated OER
Presidential endorsements: Newspapers decide
Twelfth graders collect, organize, evaluate and synthesize information from multiple sources in order to draw logical conclusions. They communicate this information using appropriate social studies terminology in oral, written or...
Curated OER
Narrative Writing
A basic instructional activity on personal narrative writing is here for you. In it, learners are asked to imagine they're going to share an experience of their own with someone who did not participate in that experience. They verbally...
Curated OER
Mean and Standard Deviation
Get two activities with one lesson. The first lesson, is appropriate for grades 6-12 and takes about 20 minutes. It introduces the concept of measures of central tendency, primarily the mean, and discusses its uses as well as its...
Curated OER
Electricity and Electrical Circuits
Students are introduced to electricity and electrical circuits. In groups, they draw circuit diagrams, complete a KWL chart and discover the difference between open, closed and series circuits. They define new vocabulary and make...
Curated OER
Costco and Zoning
High schoolers research zoning laws in their own communities through literature, Web and interviews, identify retailers attempting to build in your community, find out what kind of outlets have been built in nearby areas, explore ways...
Curated OER
The Way to Better Grades!
Pupils collect and analyze data. In this statistics lesson, learners create a scatter plot from their collected data. They use, tables and graphs to analyze the data and mae decisions.
Edgate
Great Grids
Learners use grid boxes as a measurement tool and discover how grids are used for mapmaking and scaling down an area. They begin by attempting to draw a model shape drawn by the teacher by using the gridding process. At the conclusion of...
Curated OER
Who's Wild?
Students explore the differences between animals of the wild and domesticated animals. In this wild animals lesson, students understand that tame animals ancestors were once wild. Students illustrate the differences by drawing a wild...
Curated OER
Informative Essay Writing
High schoolers start by drawing Mr. Essay Man, who is supposed to illustrate the different parts of an essay. After discussing what each component should contain, writers start their essay, guided by the teacher and class discussion....
Improving Measurement and Geometry in Elementary Schools
The Sum of the Interior Angles of a Polygon
Junior geometers discover that polygons can be decomposed into triangles and that the number of triangles can be determined by a rule. Note that the Geometer’s Sketchpad® software is required to carry out all components of this lesson.
Curated OER
Perceptions of German Unification Over Time
Through a series of readings and handouts, learners will study the shifts in perception that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. The history lesson plan focuses on periods of change in post WWII German history that led to a changed...
Curated OER
What Kind of "Person" Would Become a Scientist?
"Scientist Stereotypes" could be another name for this lesson! Begin by drawing from middle schoolers' preconceived notions and media portrayal of scientists, and then explain that anyone can be a scientist. Even though there is an...
Curated OER
Looting and its Punishment
Students research the concepts of looting and possible punishments. The outcomes of students research is important for this instructional activity. They write an article that publishes the results of new knowledge.
Curated OER
Making Inferences While Identifying Similes and Metaphors
Use this lesson to study similes and metaphors and the inferred meaning. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders write their own similes and metaphors. A worksheet is provided for extension work or to check understanding as homework.
Curated OER
Using The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a Bibliotherapy Technique for Foster Children
As the title suggests, this instructional activity is designed for a foster care therapy group. C.S. Lewis' novel provides children an opportunity to discuss life issues vicariously through fictional characters. However, the discussion...
Curated OER
Buoyancy: Who Sank the Boat?
Students examine whether objects will sink or float. In this buoyancy instructional activity students bring in objects and experiment to see if they sink or float.
Curated OER
John Jones and the Fight to Repeal the Black Laws
Learners examine the role of John Jones and his fight to repeal the Black Laws of Illinois. Using the text of the law, they explore his reasoning for repealing the laws and the arguments he used to support his beliefs. They draw their...
Curated OER
Living Under the Illinois Black Codes
Middle schoolers use the text of the Illinois Black Codes to examine the laws in place. Using this information, they draw their own conclusions about why the laws existed in a free state. They also identify the purpose of these laws and...
Curated OER
Fun with Electromagnets
Junior scientists work in groups to construct electromagnets. They experiment by varying number of wraps around the nail, the diameter of the nail, and the type of metal the nail is made of to see if any of these factors has an effect on...