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...

Is electricity created in the outlet? Using posters of several energy systems, collaborative groups identify and describe the parts of their systems. The groups also look at the environmental impacts of the systems and present...

Introduce a study of the presidency of Andrew Jackson with a lesson that uses video clips, primary source documents, group activities, and debates to examine Jackson's early life and career. The lesson focuses on the 1828 election and...

Young writers work backward to analyze persuasive techniques. As a class, work through the provided persuasive letter: a plea to an imaginary city council to lift a city-wide ban on fast food restaurants and discount stores. Start by...

Identifying themes in literature is the focus of the language arts lesson plan presented here. Learners read short pieces of fiction and practice the skill of identifying the themes present in each one. The bulk of the lesson consists of...

Transform your class into young geologists as they learn about six different branches of geology. Using the included geology career descriptions and picture cards, learners work in small groups deciding which tools and locations fit...

Fill those extra ten minutes of math time with this fun counting activity. Given a short sequence of numbers, young mathematicians stand in a circle and count one-by-one until the last number is reached, at which point the whole group...

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

But enough about me....Help youngsters develop a fundamental social skill in recognizing what others enjoy talking about. Learners draw pictures and write words to describe their interests and what they enjoy discussing, and wear their...

There's no need to stay inside; get out of the classroom and create a scaled map of the solar system on your playground field! In collaborative groups, scholars identify the distance between the sun and other planets, place planet...

How do you know if a number is divisible? Instructors first prove the divisibility rules for three and four and then class members use this modeling to prove given divisibility rules for eight and nine either individually or in...

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 activity covers the differences in genotypes and...

Gustav Holst's The Planets provide young musicians an opportunity to examine how composers can create a suite: a collection of smaller pieces grouped to explore a single topic. After listening to "Jupiter," they examine "Mars" in...

Drop a perfect project into your lesson plans. Groups use different building materials to create models of parachutes for food drops. After testing out their prototypes, they make improvements to their designs.

Who has the final say in matters dealing with the rules under the United States Constitution? The case Marbury v. Madison brings to light the issue of judicial review. Learners investigate the Supreme Court's opinion in the case with a...

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...

Elementary schoolers find out which month has the most class birthdays (mode) and which birthday represents the middle point of all the birthdays (median). They gather and organize data to find one number that fairly represents the whole...

Start your engines! Small groups collect data from websites pertaining to the Indianapolis 500 in order to determine average speed per lap and miles in each lap. The lesson requires prior knowledge of the the formula d=rt.

Marine biologists research sea ice communities. Assign some groups to construct paper models of sea ice communities in winter, and some to construct models of them in summer. The lesson is simplistic, but the Internet resources provided...

Here is an ambitious lesson which has learners take a look at which nations came up with the most important scientific inventions/advancements during the 20th century. Focusing on group work, cloning is explored. All of the worksheets...

Although the worksheet for the lab activity is not included, this is an activating activity for your class to do when learning about the greenhouse effect. They lay three thermometers underneath a lamp: one out in the open, one under a...

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...

Examine Erikson's chart on the various stages one goes through growing up. Individually, they write a paper on whether or not they fit into those categories and how they are different today. In groups, for each stage they role play the...