Lesson Plans

Students will learn basic circuit and electric component uses.  They will be able to explore how current electricity moves in a circuit and how sensors measure and respond to the environment.  Students can work in small groups or individually to explore circuitry at their own pace.  Students can be assessed formatively before and after on the function of specific electrical components.  Students will also learn information useful for summative assessments.

Author
Caleb Zander

• Physics
• Science

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This unit is created for students with a basic understanding of computer coding. Students will build and test a coding program to turn an LED light on and off using an Arduino Uno board. The students will connect the hardware to a breadboard, program the code using Arduino software, test the system, adapt variations in blinking times, evaluate their results, and share observations with their classmates.

Author
Brooke Woodard

• CTE
• Technology

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Wearable devices are becoming more common each year. These devices come in many shapes, and carry out numerous functions. The website MobileHealthNews.com reported in 2014 that 1 in 5 Americans own a wearable device and 1 in 10 wear it on a daily basis. Statista.com reported in January of 2016 that global wearable market is expected to exceed $19 billion dollars in 2018. At the heart of these wearable devices are tiny sensors and energy harvesters. This lesson focuses on the capabilities of, and applications for, these tiny sensors.

Author
Thom Tomlinson

• Science

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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

• Math

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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

• Science

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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

• Math
• Pre-Calculus

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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

• Biology

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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

• Math

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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

• Biology
• Science

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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

• Biology
• Science

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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

• Agriculture
• Science

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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

• Science
• Visual Arts

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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

• Science

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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

• Math

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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

• Technology

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