| Activity or Project |
Basketball Drop
The class videotapes a basketball falling from an upper story window. Using the
image processing freeware tool NIH Image 1.61 or Scion Image, examine the distance, speed,
and acceleration of a falling ball. Students produce a spreadsheet incorporating the
basketball's distance, time, velocity, and acceleration using formulas and/or macros and a
distance and velocity per time graph from their spreadsheet to analyze the motion of the
basketball.
Resources(s):
Basketball Drop from
Apple Learning Exchange 
NIH Image
Scion Image |
Make your own Survey
Use one of the online survey creation sites to collect and graph your own data.
Resource(s):
Free Online Surveys
StatPac |
Learning Style
Students investigate their personal learning style with online tests.
Resource(s):
Multiple Intelligences Survey
Index
of Learning Styles Questionnaire
The VARK Questionnaire
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter II
The Learning Style
Evaluator
Extension(s):
Graph class results on learning style tests.
Take a survey of the learning styles in their families.
Compare what people believed their learning style was with their test scores.
Take the tests at different times of day and compare results.
See if practice in a learning style improves scores in that area. |
Foreign Film Festival
Students create a short film with English subtitles in the language they are studying.
Extension(s):
Collaborate with a class in a country in which the language is native. Students in the
foreign country could then view the videos online and offer suggestions to their partner
groups.
Exchange videos with a class in a country in which the language is native. |
Virtual Solids
Experiment with virtual solids then create a platonic solids mobile using nets
from the net.
Resource(s):
The Five Platonic
Solids
Studying Polyhedra
Polyhedra in the Classroom
Extension(s):
Construct a very large icosahedron. |
Functional Housing Market
Students access the Internet to search for housing prices in their home town and compare
the prices to the number of square feet found in the living area of a house. Derive a
linear equation from these data on a coordinate plane.
Extension(s):
Compare the graph with graphs derived from data from another town. |
E-greet a Scientist
Students email questions to scientists found from lists of professional organizations and
then fill out a "scientist shadow" (what they actually did for a day--every hour
on the hour), what education is needed for their job, what they hate/love about their work
or ask for a biography/photo of their scientist. |
Teaching with Rock Music
Research the lyrics of songs with social implications on the Internet and discuss social
problems involved.
Resource(s):
The Music of RUSH in the Social
Studies Classroom |
Uncommercial
Students videotape public service announcements about homelessness, pollution, or other
social problems to develop skills in research, critical thinking and media literacy.
|
States' Rights vs. Federalism
Students use primary documents from the Internet such as the Articles of Confederation,
the Federalist Papers, and the Constitution of the United States to examine the roots of
the debate about states' rights versus the power of the federal government.
Resource(s):
The Avalon Project: The
Articles of Confederation |
Trading American Heros
Create in PowerPoint trading cards (like baseball cards) for American heros. Demonstrate
concepts related to free market economy while trading cards with other class members.
Resource(s):
Lesson
Plan |
Art Books
Student authors gain appreciation of art and artists as they create HyperStudio books for
younger children.
Resource(s):
WebMuseum, Paris |
