"There comes an end to all things" and ending a study of horror fiction with a multimedia project is "like starting a stone. . . away the stone goes, starting others. . ." In this case, groups start with a question generated by Dr....

Using helium as an example of propane, physical science middle schoolers experiment with and graph the relationship between temperature and volume in gases. In a whole-class demonstration, they show how molecules behave under different...

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Ambrose Bierce’s short story, is used to model how structural moves, the decisions an author makes about setting, point of view, time order, etc., can be examined to reveal an author’s purpose. Groups...

Draw back the curtain, add a spot of joy to your class, and let learners be lessoned by a close reading exercise that models how to develop an interpretation based on evidence drawn from a text. Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue “My...

Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay" serves as a model for a poetry analysis activity. The whole class critiques the sample and then groups select a poem and prepare a PowerPoint presentation in which they illustrate how their poet...

Turn your classroom into a music studio as groups work together to determine why music sounds different when performed live versus a recording. After listening to some different music, each group picks a poem, creates a recording, and...

Rotating through five stations, evolutionary biologists explore the question of how changes in DNA facilitate the changes in a population over time. High-quality, colorful cards of animals, skeletons, skulls, and DNA sequences can all be...

A well-written lesson plan, second in a series of four, gets high schoolers exploring how the Antarctic food web is impacted by climate change and the associated melting of polar ice sheets. It begins with a PowerPoint presentation about...

One of the most striking pieces of evidence for Darwin's Evolution of Species was his observations of finches and how their beaks differed from island to island, depending on their primary food sources. So what would happen to the theory...

A tea party in Wonderland? An East Egg brunch with Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, and Nick? Breakfast with Miss Havisham, Lady Macbeth, and Abigail Williams? Or dinner with Andre, Hamlet, and Randle Patrick McMurphy? Class members select a favorite...

Finding patterns is an essential skill for mathematicians of all ages. Follow along with Zoe as she walks step-by-step through the process of identifying and completing number patterns. Work through the Try It! problems as a whole class...

Teaching expanded notation is a great way to enhance young mathematicians' understanding of place value. This presentation explicitly describes the process, starting with the largest place value and working down, from left to right,...

According to the movie Wildcats, "It's the sport of kings, better than diamond rings, football!" It is also, however, the sport of severe concussions and ongoing blows to the head. In order to keep our Seahawks soaring and Broncos...

Ecology candidates culture pond water organisms over a few days time, then they experiment to find out how increasing nutrients affects the population. As part of a unit on water, this exploration gives your class an understanding of how...

Elevate young scientists' skills with unit conversion using the stair-step method. Detailed instructions and a neat stair-step diagram are on the first page. Four pages of practice problems follow, mostly with real-world applications....