No need to be involved in a home economics or cooking courses to take advantage of this resource. Not only is there an explanation for how microwaves work but there are also tips for how to use the microwave, and cautions...

Coyotes in Chicago? Yip. Middle schoolers demonstrate their ability to identify details that support the idea that coyotes are adaptable creatures.

As part of a study of saving choices and opportunity costs, class members listen to a reading of Lois Lenski's Cotton in My Sack, and then evaluate the spending choices made by the Hutley family.  

Difficulties with brain injuries still continue today. After reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science, class members read a series of modern personal essays about brain injuries and choose an essay to compare...

Who used to have the right to vote in the United States? Who has the right to vote now? Amendments to the US Constitution that have changed the definition of eligible voters are the focus of a one-page learning exercise that asks class...

How have advances in technology and communication changed our world? That is the questions that world history students contemplate as they examine a series of primary and secondary source materials 

Learning to recognize the importance of the features of information text (i.e., titles, subtitles, endnotes, sidebars, etc.) is the focus of a reading activity designed for middle schoolers. Learners examine how these text features...

What better way to study survey design than to design your own survey! Bring a versatile data analysis project to your AP Statistics class, and encourage them to apply the practices from their instructions to a real-world survey...

Imagine an entire course devoted to dystopian literature. If that concept appeals to you, check out this course that uses 1984 as the anchor text and includes classic short stories as well.

Do the government's affirmative action policies promote equity in the United States? The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and affirmative action policies come under scrutiny in an activity that asks class members to...

Pupils design a fence for a backyard pool. Scholars develop a fence design based on given constraints, determine the amount of material they need, and calculate the cost of the project. 

Bridge the gap between mathematics and Career Technical Education. Pupils research the cost associated with building storage sheds and analyze possible profit. They build scale models and determine if building and selling the sheds is a...

If members of your class wonder where they can use the math they learn in middle school, let them discover the answer. Learners apply geometry concepts of scale and measure to calculate the costs of framing a house addition.

It's the stairway to learning! Scholars research all aspects of building a staircase. Using information from building codes, they write and graph a system of inequalities to analyze the constraints. The completed project is a scale model...

Readers of The Joy Luck Club, use a double-0entry journal to record and reflect on passages from Amy Tan's novel.

Agriculture is truly a math-based profession! Help the dairy farmer determine the supplies needed to complete his barn. Using given dimensions, learners build equations and use units to determine the correct amount of materials.

How much land does a parcel hold? How much fertilizer does it take for a field of corn? Pupils answer these questions and more as they apply ratio reasoning and unit analysis. 

Keep your pets slim, trim, and healthy using mathematics! Pupils use a linear programming model to optimize the amount and type of food to provide to a pet rabbit. They model constraints by graphing inequalities and use them to analyze a...

Who knew running a greenhouse required so much math? Amaze future mathematicians and farmers with the amount of unit conversions, ratio and proportional reasoning, and geometric applications involved by having them complete the...

To get the word out that the Great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP) contains millions of pounds of non-biodegrading plastics, individuals research the GPGP and write an article for a newsletter. Researchers present their facts in a...

Apply area concepts to help farmers and settle county disputes. Scholars use a given diagram and information about an insecticide spraying campaign to determine the monetary benefit to farmers. They then decide which of two counties has...

Please, sir, can I have a few thousand dollars for my research? The last installment in a six-part instructional activity has the pupils develop a grant proposal. Class members apply their knowledge of skin cancer, ultraviolet radiation,...

Scholars investigate how the tempo of music affects heartbeats. Groups  develop hypotheses about music and its connection to heartbeats before carrying out an experiment. They analyze and present data from their investigations.

Water, one of the basic needs of humans, is found in all three states of matter on Earth; no other planet—that we know of—possesses this quality. Here is a unit that allows learners to explore through experimentation what it...