Students analyze recent media trends, and develop critical thinking skills by summarizing main ideas, extracting details, formulating opinions, drawing inferences, and comparing and contrasting attitudes. They also practice paraphrasing...

Students pretend to be enzyme that breaks toothpicks in timed intervals. They complete calculations to determine how many toothpicks are broken per second to determine the rate of reaction of the enzyme.

Learners set up a cell membrane with the material provided by their teacher and then arrange beads properly to show how the sodium and potassium ions are arranged. They then make a model representing the axon of a neuron.

Students read three case studies to focus on how the United States dealt with foreign policy issues. In groups, they read about the decision to drop the atomic bomb, the commitment of troops to Vietnam and wwhether to send troops to...

Students explore traditional music of different societies around the world by listening to number of different musical recordings, discuss how music makes them feel, examine how music is central to cultural traditions, and compose short...

Students explore magnetism. They make observations of everyday items regarding their magnetic attraction and use their experiences to make a prediction.

Learners explore the black keys on the piano and basic music theory techniques using the Internet as a guide. Websites visited include www.PianoNanny.com and musictheory.net.

Students explore environmental problems due to the growing worldwide human population and examine the growth rate. They also discuss possible ways to stabilize population growth and increase sustainable development.

Students develop an interactive presentation about the planets for their fictional interplanetary travel agency. They demonstrate their knowledge of internet research techniques and the Solar System through their interactive planetary...

Young scholars examine the issues surrounding Gulf War Syndrome. In groups, they analyze evidence from the war and medical information. They participate in a debate in which they support their feelings on whether the government of the...

Students create auditory presentations on festivals and celebrations around the world. They begin by reading about how the New Orleans high school marching bands have overcome many obstacles to keep their music traditions alive. Then...

Students examine their prior knowledge of cell regeneration and therapeutic use of stem cells. After reading an article, they discover new techniques for deriving embryonic stem cells. In groups, they research on the different types of...

Students design procedures for increasing the popping rate of a set amount of popcorn kernels. They propose and test a "secret" addition to the corn popping procedure which they expect would increase the popping rate and then write lab...

Young scholars encounter how to work together as a group to accomplish a common goal. They gain more experience in doing research using library reference materials as well as internet sources. Each group is responsible for making a...

Students observe the two major developmental pathways (protostome and deuterostome). They analyze data regarding differences in nucleotide sequences and construct a phylogenetic tree. They observe the similar evolutionary history shared...

Ninth graders build an "Earthquake Machine" (a manipulative model of a fault line) and use it to explore stick-slip behavior of some faults and to develop a more accurate definition of an earthquake and its causes.

Ninth graders create a model of a city street with various sizes of buildings on it. They use the model to demonstrate the effect of building oscillation during varying degrees of seismic activity.

Students research to find information about populations and complete world maps by labeling the current population, and determining the 10 countries with the largest population. They search the "World Population Data Sheet." On the third...

Learners develop reading strategies: inferring meaning from context. They work together in order to negotiate the meaning of the various vocabulary items. Students predict the personality of the main character in each of the books.

Students are introduced to the lesson by showing them leaves from common deciduous trees, such as oak, tulip, hickory, and maple. They describe the different parts of a leaf. Students are asked the following questions: How are the...

First graders study the American flag as a symbol of freedom. They explore the number of stripes and stars and discuss the symbolism. After observing the American flag, 1st graders use construction paper to create their own accurate flag.

Fifth graders study the characteristics of fossils. They create a chart comparing the different fossil size, shape and texture. Students make observations and describe fossil characteristics in journals.

Fifth graders research an animal from the ocean, using the internet and encyclopedias, with at least 5 out of 5 topics covered. They also construct a 3-dimensional model of their animal and give an oral presentation about their animal...

Second graders create a three-dimensional picture of a sheep after observing a variety of templates of sheep. They then verbally identify the texture and color of the sheep. Students also read a book about sheep such as, "Sheep in a...