K-12 Curriculum

Let’s Move

This two day lesson provides an introduction into a unit about Scatter Plots and Lines of Best Fit. It is designed for a Math 1 course, but could be modified for other Math or Technology courses as well. By the end of the unit, the students will have gone through the Engineering Design Process. However, in these introductory lessons, they will not have completed the whole process.

Author
Annie Polashock


Content Area
  • Math

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Dough! Stick With It – A Recipe for Success?

Students will explore the states of matter, and collaborate to design a recipe to make the perfect dough. They will need to use what they know about balancing solids and liquids to find the best recipe.

Author
Linnea Gibson


Content Area
  • Science

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ATTACK of the APHIDS!

This lesson/project explores exponential and logistic models by investigating population growth (both uninhibited and inhibited) of Aphids, a common plant pest.

Author
Jasmine Frantz


Content Area
  • Math
  • Pre-Calculus

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Membrane Madness

This 8-day unit on cell organelles, types and transport is intended for a high school honors biology course consisting of 9th and 10th grade students. However, with a few modifications some of these lessons could be modified for a regular biology or an AP biology course.  Each day is designed to be implemented in an 85-minute block period.

Author
Andromeda B. Crowell


Content Area
  • Biology

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Comparing Decimals to the Thousandths

This lesson teaches comparing decimals to the thousandths and uses rainfall data from Snow Hill, N.C. to help students understand the weather conditions where they live. To make the content relevant to your own students, use the following link to gather rainfall data where you live. You could also place a rain gauge somewhere on your campus to collect the data yourself. (https://www.wunderground.com/history/).

Author
Phil Cook


Content Area
  • Math

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It’s Us or Them: Weighing Species Extinction Against Human Health

In this multi-day project, students will play different roles as part of a team of experts deciding if several different species of disease transmitting animals should be wiped out to stop people from getting sick.

Author
Eric Baker


Content Area
  • Biology
  • Science

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Save a Life, Build a Device!

Students will design a hypothetical device that addresses a human disease caused by an inability of the patient’s body to successfully monitor and maintain appropriate physiological levels of a substance.

Author
Eric Baker


Content Area
  • Biology
  • Science

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Exposing the Roots of Local Food Production

In this unit, students will learn about the local foods movement and how they can make a positive difference in their health, economy, and environment by choosing to live and eat locally. The teacher will utilize a variety of instructional methods to inspire a passion for local food. Literacy and curriculum integration is of utmost importance in this unit as students learn to apply the local foods movement to their everyday life.

Lesson 1: What is local?

Students will begin to understand the components of the food system and will be able to discuss basic agricultural terminology in relation to the local foods movement. Students will read and analyze excerpts from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a novel focused on local food decisions. They will compare American food culture with that other countries around the globe. The students will also begin a business plan for their own local food or agriculture product business.

Lesson 2: Defending the local choice

Students will analyze the benefits and debate shortcomings of a local foods system. They will compare the modern food system and local foods systems.

Lesson 3: How to Eat Locally

Students will explore options for obtaining local food products. Students will identify the basic components of a recipe and observe two local foods cooking demonstrations. They will then compare food preservation techniques and complete a canning lab with a small group.

Author: April Pittman


Content Area
  • Agriculture
  • Science

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Art of Collaboration

The purpose of this project is to provide an innovative way to engage students in the science curriculum. Researchers have been studying the impact of an arts integrated curriculum. These studies are showing that through integration of the arts, students of all backgrounds and learning levels show an increase in understanding and recall of materials covered when integrated with the arts.

Any teacher who is interested in finding an innovative and engaging way to teach science will find these lessons useful. Most lessons integrate language arts and/or social studies. This allows for cross-curricular involvement which helps to solidify the science concept by providing applications that apply outside of the classroom.

Author: Kristen Hensley


Content Area
  • Science
  • Visual Arts

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Experts and Efficiency

A unit on Global Collaboration that uses the topic of Water Quality to teach the skills of a modern workplace.  In this lesson, students will complete a variety of hands-on activities to discover the importance of expertise.  Each student will identify their own unique skills and, through a modified jigsaw activity, learn the importance of diverse teams that include many different skills.

Author: Paul Cancellieri


Content Area
  • Science

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Man vs. Beast: The Calculus of Animal Movement

This project is designed to help students understand the relationship between the graphs of a function and its first and second derivatives and how to accurately approximate derivatives from a table of values.  Students will develop this understanding in the context of analyzing the velocity and acceleration of animal movement as compared to the velocity and acceleration of different human movements.

Author: Michael Belcher


Content Area
  • Math

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Using Google Sketch Up to Design a Wing for a Glider

This lesson allows students design a wing for a standard glider and use Google Sketch Up to draw a 3D model of their glider. Students will learn to read a basic part drawing and gain a basic understanding of how to draw using Google Sketch Up, and use a multi-view part drawing of a basic glider and their design ideas for a wing to generate a Google Sketch Up 3D model.

Author: Russell Sparks


Content Area
  • Technology

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How do Wing Area, Wing Angle and Wing Camber Affect Lift?

This lesson will allow students to use FoilSim software to explore how wing area, wing shape and wing angle affects the force of lift and the planes ability to fly. Students will gain an understanding of how wing area, shape and angle affect flight, and examine examples of wings and describe how changes in wing area, wing camber and wing angle can be used to increase lift.

Author: Russell Sparks


Content Area
  • Math
  • Technology

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What are the Forces that Affect Flight?

This lesson will give students the basic knowledge needed to understand airplanes and the forces that allow them to fly.  Students will learn to calculate the wing area and wing loading of a plane.

Author: Russell Sparks


Content Area
  • Geometry
  • Math

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Using Model Generators to Explore Alternative Energy

Where does electricity come from?  For many students, the answer is obvious: “an outlet!”  However, when they are asked to trace the route to the outlet back further, some students will follow the electric lines back to a power plant, and there the trail often goes cold.  When comparing and assessing alternative energies, it can be difficult to get students to move beyond the obvious, largely because they don’t really understand how power is generated.

Author: Pamela Weghorst


Content Area
  • Earth Science
  • Science

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