University of Minnesota
Dendritic Spines Lab
This is your brain on drugs ... literally! Your neuroscientists-in-training examine the evidence of drug use on the human brain and how neurons change their connectivity when altered by drugs. They then work together to create testing...
New Jersey Historical Commission and New Jersey Council for the Humanities
Thomas Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park
What would change in your daily life due to a power outage? Here, learners explore the inventions brought to us by the one and only, Thomas Edison, and imagine a day without them. Scholars take part in a grand conversation and write a...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Upton Sinclair, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harvey W. Wiley
Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not part...
Chandler Unified School District
Art Masterpiece: Leonardo’s Inventions—Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci is the focus of a hands-on activity that encourages scholars to become inventors. Pupils brainstorm and sketch their idea, compose a detailed depiction using a mirror writing technique, and antique the paper for a...
US Institute of Peace
Mediating Conflict
Two's a negotiation, but three's a mediation! Demonstrate the differences between the two processes through a role-playing lesson plan. The activity familiarizes pupils with the role of a mediator and examines the types of situations...
Society for Science & the Public
Easter Islanders Made Tools, Not War
When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Learning area 5: Job Done!
Four activities conclude a unit through discussion and activities inspired by reflection. Scholars revisit their storybook from the first unit. Self-portraits showcase thought bubbles with written statements. Groups write and perform a...
Smithsonian Institution
African American Music: Let’s Sing and Play Clapping Games
Two lessons focus on making a beat. Using popular African American music of its time, scholars listen and analyze the rhythm then recreate it with hands drums, and cups.
EngageNY
Writing Narratives from First Person Point of View: Imagining Meg Lowman’s Rainforest Journal
I spy with my little eye! Learners observe page 23 in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World and practice what they would add to a field journal. They discuss how details from the text help add to their thoughts. To finish, readers use...
Workforce Solutions
30 Seconds
Thirty seconds are all scholars have to develop an engaging commercial to showcase their talents and experience within a specific occupation. Pairs work collaboratively to keep each other on time to deliver information speedily and ask...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Animals
Scholars explore the animal kingdom with help from two texts, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey and A Bed for the Winter by Karen Wallace. The literature and informational text set the learning stage for thoughtful discussion and...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Heroes
Three creative activities follow reading a fiction and nonfiction book about heroes. Scholars build hero action figures out of clay for make-believe play, explain in written form how they show bravery, kindness, patience, thoughtfulness,...
Curated OER
The Inner Voice: Writing as a Tool to Control Anger in the Classroom
Third graders write about their feelings and thought for 10 minutes. They color an image that corresponds with their feeling and present their feeling poster. They write about their thoughts and daily feelings to help them reflect and...
Curated OER
Cultural Acceptance
Students are segregated into groups according to their clothing and experience first hand what it feels like to be a minority in everyday life. For this cultural acceptance lesson plan, students experience discrimination first hand....
Curated OER
Amphibians and Reptiles
In this experiment worksheet, students design an experiment given a list of materials. The experiment should demonstrate how temperature effects an amphibians body processes.
Curated OER
Where do Plants Get their Food?
In this where do plants get their food worksheet, students design an experiment that will disprove the idea that plants obtain their food from soil. Students will set up their experiment and design a data table that will record data over...
Curated OER
Alternative Medicine
In this science experiment worksheet, 6th graders answer 5 multiple choice questions about the Hahnemann control experiment and complete 3 graphic organizer that relate to the experiment.
Curated OER
Small Moments
Students select a personal photo for an experience to write about. In this personal experience lesson, students find a photo of themselves that contains a 'small moment.' Students write about the personal experience in the picture.
Curated OER
Allelopathy Experiments
High schoolers explore how allelopathy works in plants. In this botany lesson, students explain how this phenomenon affect other organisms. They read and analyze an article about allelopathy and discuss its flaws.
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
What Brought Settlers to the Midwest?
Drawn by promises of fertile land, thousands of settlers poured West because of the Homestead Act of 1862. By examining images of the ads that drew them westward, learners consider the motivations for movement. They also consider how the...
Curated OER
Reflecting on Learning Experience
Students internalize learning experience by writing about it.
EngageNY
Key Incidents Reveal Aspects of Character: Survival at Sea (Pages 114-168)
Learn from experience. As part of their study of Unbroken, scholars use a turn-and-talk strategy to discuss Louie's experiences and the presence of God while he is lost at sea. They then read quotes from the text and infer what the words...
Anti-Defamation League
Say Something: Discussion Guide for Grades 2-4
Empower pupils to stop bullying when they see or experience it with a activity that showcases the book, Say Something by Margaret Paula Moss. After reading the tale and thoughtfully discussing its characters, they share their own...
Anti-Defamation League
Gossip, Rumors and Identity
A thoughtful discussion prompts middle schoolers to reflect on gossip and rumors, what they are, their experience with them, and how some groups experience it more than others. Scenarios challenge participants to consider the impact of...