Tiktaalik: A Fish Out of Water

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn that transitional fossils provide scientists with evidence to establish how major animal groups are related to one another.

Ken

This video segment from Wide Angle features Ken, a third grade student in Japan.

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Abraham Lincoln: A Good Man? or A Good Man!

In this lesson, students use video from American Masters: Bill T. Jones: A Good Man as well as consult primary sources to investigate the life of Lincoln and to write a one page argument essay on whether Lincoln was "a good man."

Agony of Defeat

Students are asked to explain how forces and motion affect the skier in the film.

American Stories: Teens and Immigration

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore the experience of four teen immigrants to the United States.

Analyzing and Comparing Perspectives on Issues - Gorillas

Students compare and contrast their perspectives on raising gorillas in captivity with their peers and with scientists. They summarize their perspectives and the perspectives of others.

Analyzing an Issue From Three Perspectives - Smoking in Public Places

Students note various perspectives on the debate about smoking in public places in NYC and create an interview to research the perspectives of peers and community members. They write a report to present their findings and opinion on the issue.

Baseball and Social Change: The Story of Roberto Clemente

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore how a culture changes as new groups of people enter it, focusing on the experiences of baseball player Roberto Clemente and the influence of Latino culture in the United States.

Building the Erie Canal

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students look at how the construction of the Erie Canal brought about major changes within United States, particularly in New York City, upstate New York, and the Midwest.

Building the Pyramids of Ancient Egypt

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn about the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the pyramids' role in Egyptian society, and historians' theories about how the Egyptians were able to build these massive structures.

Bullying

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students think about the impact of bullying on individuals' rights in a democratic society.

Cats - Yesterday and Today

In this video segment from Nature, discover the various roles the cat has played in our history.

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Character Change: The Diary of Anne Frank

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students examine how Anne Frank's character changed while she was in hiding from the Nazis in World War II.

Character Conflict: Language Immersion

In this lesson designed to enhance literary skills, students explore conflict as a plot device through the story of Moises, a fictional young immigrant to the United States.

Character Development: Cancer - A New Treatment

Students will answer questions about what motivated chemical engineer Mark Davis to search for a better treatment for his wife's cancer. They then complete a journal entry in which they compare his motivations and goals to those they’ve established for themselves.

Collecting and Organizing Facts From Multiple Sources - Flowering Plants

Students take notes on two videos about flowering plants and organize the information to write a cohesive essay about the topic.

The Columbian Exchange

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students explore the movement of plants, animals, and diseases that characterized the Columbian Exchange and learn how it changed the world.

Conflict Over Western Lands

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students explore how the differing worldviews of white settlers and Native Americans led to conflicts over land when Americans surged westward in the 1860s.

Continental Drift: What's the Big Idea?

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn how the theory that explains the position of Earth's continents was established and later modified, and gain important insights into how science and the scientific community operate.

Designing a Poster to Communicate Information: Yellowstone National Park

While watching a short video segment about Yellowstone National Park, students take notes they later use to create an interesting and infomative poster.