Learn about the concept of specialization of labor with your class. In this specialization of labor lesson, 3rd graders work in teams to produce a product. They work in either a division of labor or independent production method. They...

Links to two different versions of this mapping activity are available. In "The Small Version," youngsters design a town, keeping the water supply in mind. In "The Large Version," they also design a town, but they consider services and...

A scavenger hunt introduces class groups to the different sections of newspapers and the different types of articles found in each section.

The Nashua River serves as the focal point of an investigation of the treatment of and care for natural resources. A reading of A River Rand Wild: An Environmental History by Lynne Cherry, launches the study and class members consider...

What are the trade-offs when looking to get the most benefit from an energy source? Small groups compare the cost-to-emission levels of several energy sources by looking at the information graphically. The groups utilize this...

Turn your pupils into teachers! Here is a lesson that requires groups to research an energy source with the provided handout, create a poster, and present their information to the class. Connections are made to practical aspects of...

Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...

Geometry students will be ecstatic about these engaging and enlightening end-of-the-year projects! Types of project ideas include interviewing a geometer, an ABCs of geometry poster, an engineering lab report, and origami work. 

Who's your Daddy ... and Mommy for that matter? Given a first-generation group of gummy bear offspring, young scientists must determine which bears are their parents. An activity worksheet covers the differences in genotypes and...

The matrix — it's not just a movie. The lesson introduces the concept of 2 x 2 matrix multiplication as a way to represent linear transformations. Class members determine when a linear transformation represented as matrix...

Even or not, here I come. Groups investigate the parity of products and sums of whole numbers in the 17th lesson in a series of 21. Using dots to represent numbers, they develop a pattern for the products of two even numbers; two odd...

Collaborative earth science groups create a working model of a watershed. Once it has been developed, you come along and introduce a change in land use, impacting the quality of water throughout their watershed. Model making is an...

Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...

Employ this resource to expand efficient ideas on how to present and organize activities that describe how researchers can implement their research by using direct quotes, paraphrasing, and summarizing—without plagiarizing. Activities...

Are pyramids and cones similar in definition to prisms and cylinders? By examining the definitions, pupils determine that pyramids and cones are subsets of general cones. Working in groups, they continue to investigate the relationships...

Lynchings, race riots, and Jim Crow laws were just a few examples of antagonism that African Americans faced after Emancipation. Class groups investigate these and other events, and prepare a presentation to inform the class about...

Analyze Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous and powerful "I Have a Dream" speech as a primary source document. After reading up on rhetorical devices and working in small groups to define terms, class members identify and explain the use of...

Young journalists try their hand at writing a news report. They go through the process of developing ideas, and collecting and organizing their information. The headline everyone works with is, "Mystery Disappearance of English Teacher:...

Young scholars discuss resource maps and examine examples from library resources. Working in groups, they create edible resource maps by drawing examples, such as popcorn on the border of Iowa and Nebraska. Then they use cookies in the...

Do your language arts students love to draw? Use this lesson to reinforce poetic techniques with illustration. After drawing what they think poem would look like with no words, middle and high schoolers work on several different...

Skim a brief biography of Amelia Earhart with your class, and then assign groups of researchers one of four topics listed: Amelia's family life, important airplane flights during Amelia's life, turning points in Amelia's life, and...

Students comprehend the meaning of the word steretype, work in groups to come up with stereotype statements, discuss whether the statements are fair, and write what they learned from the activity. Balloons are used as a conduit in this...

A video leads off this activity on fables, introducing the class to this important form of traditional storytelling. The group defines fable and hears an explanation of the origin of this type of folk tale. They summarize the story they...

First graders place some specific types of objects (e.g., shoes, favorite food) on concrete graphs and pictographs. They listen and respond to others in a variety of contexts (e.g., pay attention to the speaker; take turns speaking in a...