How high did the ball go? Engineering teams build a working pneumatic system that launches a ball into the air. The teams vary the amount of pressure and determine the accompanying height of the ball. An extension of building a device to...

Students work in small groups to explore spatial relationships while building with color cubes. Students must identify positions of blocks to partner, recreate a model, and color a sketch of their structure appropriately.

Geometry is everywhere, and I mean everywhere! Those skillful mathematicians discuss shapes and then come up with a well-researched list of shapes seen in everyday applications. They put their knowledge of shapes to work as each small...

Young engineers are instructed to design and build their own solar water heaters. Then, they calculate the efficiency and cost and compare them to commercially available models. This is a full unit for pupils to apply their knowledge.

Students engage in a literature study unit. They use various exercises to build reading comprehension using a wide variety of literature texts. While reading the books, students are encouraged to think reflectively in order to appreciate...

You can eat a solar cell? A unit on solar energy begins with a discussion about organic solar cells, followed by directions on how to build your own. After following the teacher's directions to build an anthocyanin...

If we stack up all the cross sections of a figure, does it create the figure? Pupils make the connection between the complete set of cross sections and the solid. They then view videos in order to see how 3D printers use Cavalerie's...

Learners attempt to design and build the most stable "earthquke resistant" structure. They create model buildings and test them on a shake table to see which design holds up the best.

Students explore how earthquakes cause structures to move and how the substrate beneath them may actually cause them to fail. They create mock buildings and place them in level tubs of various substrates. They then put each through a...

Students study bridges and design and build their own. They explore different types of bridges and build a basic beam bridge in pairs. After creating their beam bridge, they design a truss bridge and then build a suspension bridge and...

How far would your pupils go to be able to have access to books? Revisit Heather Henson and David Small's That Book Woman and challenge class members to take on the role of Cal or the Book Woman. By putting themselves in someone else's...

Here comes the sun! Primary graders engage in activities that teach them how to protect themselves from the effects of UV rays. They learn that each season (fall, winter, spring, and summer) offers its own special challenges so they...

Workout buddies aren't just for adults! Learners discuss the benefits of 60 minutes of physical activity each day and generate ideas for how they can accomplish this by working toward a goal with friends.

Ideal for a language arts class, literary unit, or independent reading assignment, a set of reading worksheets address a wide array of skills. From poetic elements to nonfiction text features, you can surely find a valuable resource in...

Get hundreds of interactive activity plans using the Zome Modeling System. Among dozens of lessons, a first exposure to similar triangles can be very visual for the learner. Here, young geometers explore the number of different shapes...

Young scholars navigate to various websites and play educational games to reinforce learning.  For this game lesson, students catalog games to play in various areas of the curriculum;. Young scholars play online and board games.

Fifth graders build models. In this measurement lesson plan, 5th graders build paper models to represent square centimeters, square inches, square feet, cubic centimeters, cubic inches, cubic feet, and perimeter.

Students research which buildings are registered as national or state historical sites, and lobby the community by petition to have another local building placed on the national or state historic register.

Learners practice sentence combining at increasingly difficult levels throughout a week. They begin with nouns and verbs and build to contrasts, parallels, etc. 

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...

How do you introduce the topic of slavery to your youngest learners? The Sneetches, by Dr. Suess, is a great introduction to the idea of being different. Read the story to your class, and discuss desegregation in...

A series of well-written activities, these lessons prompt middle schoolers reading below grade level (at a second, third, or fourth grade level) to use poetry to practice basic reading skills. They rhyme, build words, make inferences,...

Differentiate between temperature and thermal energy. Your class will build a thermometer using simple materials and develop their own scale for measuring temperature. Discuss with your class and consider why engineers need to understand...