Students examine core samples from Mars and discover what they can use it to tell the history of Mars.  In this core sample activity students create and analyze their own core samples then eat them at the end.

Eighth graders take their own "core sample" with clay and/or play-dough and correlate the layers of the earth.

Juvenile geologists drill clear plastic straws down into a playdough sedimentary rock model, pulling out sample rock cores. As they analyze their cores, they apply the law of superposition and discover that originally horizontal layers...

Take the old baking soda and vinegar volcano to the next level by using it to study repeated lava flows over time, examine geologic features on Earth and Mars, and speculate about some of the formations on Mars. 

Young academics create a current events journal by skimming newspapers for articles that fit defined guidelines for informational texts. After cutting out two articles each week to add to their journals, they write a brief description of...

Over several days, learners communicate and defend an argument regarding environmental justice issues in Chester, PA. After discussing the issue and viewing a video about the location of several toxic waste facilities in Chester, they...

Three, two, one, blast off to a better understanding of force and motion with this exciting science lesson! Beginning with a discussion about rockets and gravity, young scientists go on to complete a series of worksheets about net...

Mystery is an exciting genre for young readers to investigate. The plots are so intriguing! Here is a series of lessons featuring Sherlock Holmes stories that invite learners to enter the world of the mystery genre.  Based on what...

Let your learners be the judges for a series of case studies that focus on broadcast codes in Canada. In order to familiarize your class with the codes and guidelines that govern the broadcasting industry, in particular Canada's...

Is, as Walt Whitman contends, America’s “almost maniacal appetite for wealth,” the heart of the American dream? Class members grapple with this question as they read David Brooks’ article “The Commercial Republic,” and quotes that...

Fe, phi, fo, fum. This activity leads pairs to find the ratio of consecutive terms of the Fibonacci sequence. The pairs find that the Fibonacci sequence can be found in many places. A discussion with the class shows that the ratios...

Students define the origin of rock samples and how surface core samples can tell us about the history and make-up of Mars. Candies are used as a Martian surface sample. Students study the samples and make a hypothesis about the cause of...

Through this set of three lessons about Ellis Island, class members will learn about why immigrants came to the United States, find out about the difficulties that went along with coming to America, become familiar with the immigration...

Students investigate various aspects of the planet Mars. They examine a core sample that is simulated to make observations. Then compare the known sample with one that is unknown and differentiate between the two. Students hypothesize...

To foul or not to foul, that is the basketball question. High schoolers look at the probability that fouling out a player and allowing free throws yields a better outcome than allowing the original shot. The resource provides a...

Finally! Math and Instagram have come together to discuss the correlation between likes and followers. High schoolers can't help but want to discover what makes one account more popular than another by developing a line of best fit and...

A baseball trajectory and a parabola seem to make the best pair in real-world quadratic applications. Here is a current baseball resource with questions, discussions, and explorations regarding a quadratic function and home run...

Take young geologists on an exploration of the rock cycle with this six-lesson earth science unit on rocks and minerals. Through a series of discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on investigations your class will learn...

Young scholars study a shopping problem. They discuss strategies for determining the number of possible choices. They create a tree diagram and an organized list. Students analyze patterns and derive an equation for the multiplication...

Middle schoolers conduct a hands-on experiment designed to demonstrate how continents and oceans formed and why the manner of formation is relevant to a study of volcanoes.

Inquiry-based learning and investigations form the basis of a deep understanding of quadratic functions in a very thorough unit plan.  Learners develop recursive and closed methods for representing real-life situations,...

Think like an engineer and an agricultural scientist over the course of 12 lessons in a STEM based unit. Young scientists take on the roles of animal physiologists, animal geneticists, agricultural engineers, animal nutritionists,...

Examine the contributions of African-Americans in the worlds of art and literature. Over the course of a few days, young scholars will read and analyze a poem, a short story, and a piece of art. They complete a range of...

First graders build a habitat for crickets after studying animal survival needs. They care for and observe the crickets in the classroom habitat.