You are part of a NASA design
team assigned to develop a proposal for a human settlement on the surface of Mars
in the year 2030. Students imagine, research, and design living and working quarters
for a colony of 100 earthling pioneers. What does it take to survive? What gives
life on the frontier meaning? What makes a good community? What makes a house
a home? Students present their findings in the form of a multimedia scrapbook
to be reviewed by 'Congress'.
Addresses 5th - 8th grade standards
in Social Studies (Immigration, Environments and Resources, Settlement Patterns,
Sources of Information), Science, Visual Arts, and Technology.
Build, test, and refine ramps
to see how far you can get your marble to roll. Share your designs, data and analysis
on Marble Roll Day, and compile your data and discoveries with students from around
the country as part of the online Science-athon from TERC's Center for Teaching,
Learning, and School Partnerships.
Addresses 5th - 9th grade standards
in Science (Energy, Motion, Friction, Investigation and Experimentation, Prediction)
Discover the political, social
and economic impact of the Bubonic plague through 14th century writings and artwork.
Pick a role and write a 'first-hand' account of how the plague affects you. Your
group will give a multimedia presentation on its devastating impact and on how
The Black Death relates to modern science.
Interdisciplinary unit, addressing
7th - 8th grade standards in History-Social Studies, Language Arts, Science, and
Technology.
This is a different way of
investigating math - not just with numbers and facts, but by creating an imaginative,
informative, interactive geometry journal that will give students a new appreciation
for the fascinating and innumerable applications of geometry in the world around
them.
Addresses 7th - 8th grade standards
in Geometry, Language Arts, Visual Arts, Social Science, and Technology.
You are a delegate at an important
international conference on the state of the world's water, where your group will
gather scientific data for research, then develop and present real solutions and
recommendations for the ecological problems facing the world. One featured group
of American students worked collaboratively with students in Brazil and brought
about some real-world solutions for ecological challenges both groups face.
Addresses 3rd - 7th grade standards
in Science (Physical and Earth Sciences, Investigation and Experimentation), Language
Arts, Visual Arts, and Technology
Hold a "Local History Fair" for
students, parents and community members where students display and explain their
research and discoveries about their local or community history. Students choose
a topic, then carry out research and interview community members who help make
local history come alive in unexpected and exciting ways.
Can address 6th - 8th grade standards
in Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking, Research), US History,
Civics, Social Studies, and Technology.
You are there. Students research
and act the parts of real people - lawyers, witnesses, reporters, Africans, Judge
and jurors - involved in the famous Amistad trial. Using the arguments of the
times, students argue the case and decide whether the Africans will be set free
or be forced into slavery.
Addresses 6th - 12th grade standards
in US History, Historical Understanding, Civics, Language Arts, Reading, Listening
and Speaking, and Technology.
You and your fellow lawyers prepare to
take Joe Camel (smoking) to trial to determine his guilt or innocence in
the death of your favorite uncle. Your classmates will decide whether the
evidence warrants taking the case to court by evaluating the
presentations, materials, resources and persuasiveness of the lawyers.
Addresses 6th - 8th grade standards in
Health, Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking), and
Technology.
Make a 60 second "uncommercial" (desktop
movie) that informs about a topic of societal concern; homelessness, drunk
driving, AIDS, etc. Topics are developed by students, based on issues
which really interest them and perhaps have been encountered in their
lives. Everything you need to know to develop and produce these
uncommercials is linked to from this site.
Can address 5th - 12th grade standards
across the curriculum, plus Technology, Visual Arts, and Behavioral
Studies.
Plan, organize and build a community to
serve the population 100 years in the future or thousands of years in the
past. How about a Verbal Community? Math City? Creatureland? Students make
and run a government, and learn reading, math, language, science,
economics, civics and social science in a way that they will never forget.
Can address K - 12th grade standards in
all subject areas.
Clean-up efforts have been underway for the past 25 years in an attempt to make
Love Canal, New York a safe place to live today. You have been offered a great
job in the Love Canal community. Do you take it or not? Have the efforts been
sufficient to clean up the wastes dumped there? What are the health risks? What
is the evidence? How you look at it all depends on who you are - an environmentalist,
the mayor of Greater Niagara Falls, NY, a representative from Occidental Petroleum,
or a local citizen...
Addresses 6th - 9th grade standards in
Language Arts (Reading, Writing, Research, Listening and Speaking), Social
Studies, Science, Health, and Technology.
What are the personal and social impacts
of some of the current breakthroughs in biotechnology? How can we keep up
with all the advances in the field? How can we understand what they mean
to society? How can we decide where we stand? Students develop web pages
that explain the lab techniques and science behind these breakthroughs,
consider their usefulness, address their impact on society, and reflect on
their own values regarding these advances.
Addresses 9th - 10th grade standards in
Science (Genetics, Biotechnology, Investigation and Experimentation),
Social Science, and Technology.
