Curated OER
Arti-Factual Evidence
Practice responding to controversial information with the New York Times lesson provided here. Middle schoolers watch a video interview with the director of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. After reading a companion article, they identify the...
Curated OER
Whose Rite Is It?
The class explores and debates, from multiple perspectives, a petition to allow Hopi Indians to take golden eagle hatchlings from a federal wildlife sanctuary for use in a religious ceremony. Pupils defend their personal views on the...
Curated OER
Study Guide for Where the Red Fern Grows
One of the best fourth grade books of all time is Where the Red Fern Grows. Provide your class with interesting background on the book and the author as well as worksheets for every five chapters of the novel. The first part of the guide...
AQA
Teaching Guide: Set Design
The task of creating a set for a theater production may leave theater arts students asking where to begin. Set their minds at ease with a packet that not only provides information about the elements of design, but also guides them...
Learning for Life
Career Education
As part of a career exploration and investigation, learners research the Internet for possible career options and identify what type of educational preparation is required for those careers, as well as possible salary options,...
Serendip
Vitamins and Health – Why Experts Disagree
Should people take vitamins or get the needed minerals through diet? Experts disagree based on many different factors. Scholars compare study findings and discuss the differences. They learn the importance of comparing results across...
Random House
Teacher's Guide: The Hobbit: The Enchanting Prelude to Lord of the Rings
The Odyssey, Star Wars, The Hunger Games. Odysseus, Luke Skywalker, Katniss Everdeen. Add The Hobbit and Bilbo Baggins to these lists, and you have a unit examining classic and contemporary myths, legends, and folktales with hero and...
American Psychological Association
Counting Fidgets: Teaching the Complexity of Naturalistic Observation
Why do psychologists conduct experiments in controlled laboratory settings? High schoolers gain an understanding of the importance of controls with an activity that involves naturalistic observations with no imposed controls.
Echoes & Reflections
Contemporary Antisemitism
Despite the recognized atrocities of the Holocaust, anti-semitism continues. The 11th and final installment of the Teaching the Holocaust series explores the long-term effects of the Holocaust on modern anti-semitism, asking pupils to...
Library of Congress
Investigating the Building Blocks of Our Community’s Past, Present, and Future
As Ken Jennings said, "There's just something hypnotic about maps." Certainly, the longer you look at them the more you can learn. In this project-based learning lesson, individuals study both historic and present-day maps of their area...
American Museum of Natural History
Saving Species
Some scientists dedicate their lives to researching and protecting endangered species. An online lesson teaches about three scientists around the world who do just that. They learn about spiders, mollusks, and reptiles from North...
EngageNY
Research: Identifying Categories for Our Research About the Wheelwright
Here is a fine lesson on reading and understanding expository text designed for 4th graders. With a partner, learners read a passage of text about a machine called a wheelright. This machine was commonly used in the colonial period....
Curated OER
Structured Academic Controversy (SAC) in the History Classroom
SAC is a specific approach to discussing history and controversial issues. Rather than adhering to an either/or debate-style paradigm, it fosters speaking and constructivist listening to enable learners to build consensus through...
Curated OER
Springfield Wiki Lesson - Literature Circles
Using a variety of novels about survival, such as Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George, pupils create author's studies using wikis. First, learners are placed in groups to study a particular novel. Then, they create a page...
University of Chicago
Comparing Modern and Ancient Ideas of Ethnicity and Identity
Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...
NOAA
The Methane Circus
Step right up! An engaging research-centered lesson, the third in a series of six, has young archaeologists study the amazing animals of the Cambrian explosion. Working in groups, they profile a breathtaking and odd creature and learn...
NOAA
Importance of Deep-Sea Ecosystems – The Benthic Drugstore
You never know what you will find next in the deep sea ecosystem. So far, scientists have found items that work as anti-tumor agents, anti-inflammatory agents, agents that stop uncontrolled cell division, and much more. The lesson begins...
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – A Tale of Deep Corals
Many have debated which came first, the chicken or the egg, but this lesson debates which came first, the hydrocarbons or the carbonate reef. After a discussion on deep-sea corals, scholars receive a set of questions to research and...
University of Colorado
The Moons of Jupiter
Middle schoolers analyze given data on density and diameter of objects in space by graphing the data and then discussing their findings. This ninth installment of a 22-part series emphasizes the Galilean moons as compared to other objects.
NOAA
Microfriends
Is there medicine found in the organisms that live deep below the surface of the ocean? The fifth lesson plan in a six-part series has learners team up to research bacteria and the relationship it has with nearly every living thing on...
Maine Content Literacy Project
Introduction to Short Story Writers Say
There are so many authors of short stories, and your class can have the chance to study quite a few. This seventh lesson in a series of fourteen continues the decision-making process for the final assessment: a short story author study....
Middle Tennessee State University
The Invention of the Telephone
All of the people in your class would agree that life would be different without the invention of the telephone! Study Alexander Graham Bell's most famous and influential invention through the primary source document of his sketch of the...
US Holocaust Museum
Defying Genocide
Defying death. Defying those who want to do harm. Defying genocide. Pupils research the events in Rwanda to gain an understanding of what it takes to survive a horrific event like a holocaust. They use video, time lines, and Holocaust...
Curated OER
Bering Sea Buffet - A Foodweb Activity
Life in the Bering Sea, food webs, and the ocean ecosystem are introduced with a map activity. The lesson starts as kids explore maps and images of the Bering Sea, then it kicks into high gear as they start to discuss the types of...