Jennifer Richards, Assistant Professor
The curriculum development team has been hard at work creating new lesson plans and working with agents to publish lessons for use in in-school clubs for this school year. Below are lesson plans that have been reviewed and are awaiting publication numbers, but are available for use now.
If you are interested in using any of the lesson plans below, please email James Swart with the name of the lesson plan(s) and they will be sent to you.
In addition to the Lesson plans below, published lesson plans are available at:
This lesson gives a hands-on demonstration of volume with sugar cubes. Students will group, add, and multiply numbers to find volume using manipulatives.
This lesson includes a hands-on demonstration of fractions with chocolate blocks. Stu- dents will group, add, and subtract fractions with the manipulatives.
This lesson introduces students to the basic structure of plant and animal cells and the structures that make up those cells. Students also learn the three components of Cell Theory, the theory that explains the basic information we know about cells
This lesson introduces students to the concept of food webs and food chains. Students explore producers, first-, second-, and third-level consumers and the roles those organ- isms play in an environment. Students also learn how all these organisms fit together to form a food web made up of smaller food chains.
This lesson introduces basic scientific principles and allows students to complete a hands-on activity related to egg candling. This lesson can be used to spark interest in an animal science project.
The topic of cow breeds will be discussed in detail with class with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation. Pictures and general information about the breeds will be presented to the class. After the content has been presented, the class will take part in a game where they can share their new knowledge.
Before the content is presented, the students will be asked to create, out of play dough, what they think a cow’s stomach looks like. After the content is presented, the students will recreate their model of the stomach. Students will also be asked to demonstrate their understanding of the content by discussing what would happen if a part of the stomach was missing. *Not Aligned to State Content Standards
When authors are creating characters they take great care in naming them. There is much more to the name of a character than just what we call them, the name in many ways, describes them. This lesson explores the traits that help make characters in literature come alive.
Having an opinion is one thing, being able to support that opinion with reason over emotion is another. In this lesson, students are allowed to explore this process in a controlled environment where they are free to make mistakes and learn from their mistakes.
This lesson introduces the basics of electromagnetism and encourages students to think about polarity and electrical currents as they build an electromagnet.
This lesson gives real-life applications for working with percentages and ratios in a sport setting, which interests many students. In this lesson, students will convert ratios to percentages and use ratios to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
This lesson introduces density waves in the ocean environment and explains how the temperature and salinity affects the waves. In this lesson, students will observe and inter- act with a density wave construction.
Litter is a major environmental problem worldwide, and the latest “Nobody Trashes Tennessee” campaign from the Tennessee Department of Transportation empowers citizens to make positive changes in their communities to create a safer, more beautiful state.
This lesson explores different famous literary quotes. Students are presented with several quotes by well known writers and work to interpret what the author meant as a part of a team. Students gain the skill of interpreting a quote and finding its meaning, as well as learning to define new words based on context clues.
This lesson begins with a video clip from a Holocaust survivor and discuss the clip as a class. Students then work to create a word splash of acts of kindness they could perform in their community, and then create posters to promote kindness.
This lesson begins by introducing students to the concept of secret codes by giving some background information. Students are then given the opportunity to decode a secret code that triggered the US’s entrance into the First World War. Students then create their own secret coded tweets.
This lesson is taught in a verbal format with a focus on creating a plan of action to improve interactions among peers. In this lesson, students will create a list of inappropriate comments they have said or heard, and share with a partner. The students will then view the video, “To This Day” that speaks to one person’s experience. Students will develop a plan of action to address the inappropriate verbal interactions in their school.
This lesson uses Daniel’s Story to introduce the concepts. Daniel’s story focuses on the perspective of a Jewish child living in Nazi-occupied Europe during the Holocaust. Students work to create definitions of prejudice, racism, and discrimination, and then view a video prior to having a class discussion. The lesson concludes by the students preparing a poster using their new found knowledge.
This lesson is taught in a verbal format with a focus on creating a plan of action to reflect upon what quality time means. In this lesson students will view a variety of pictures that show different groups spending quality time. In these pictures, the devices were removed to emphasize focus. Students will discuss each picture and gain an under- standing of what it means to spend quality time with others
The lesson begins by having students identify the parts of a check and register. Stu- dents learn the definition of debit and credit and give examples of each. Students then work to fill out checks and a check register based on payments by check and getting their pay check. The lesson concludes by having students select a career and determining what amount of income is left after paying their monthly bills.
This lesson begins with a basic static demonstration by using a balloon, and then assessing the student’s prior knowledge of static electricity. Students then work as a class to establish a Triboelectric scale using common objects, and learn how a Van de Graff generator works. The lesson concludes with a 3-2-1 assessment, and application of what they have learned to lightning strikes.
The lesson starts with students completing a KWL to assess their prior knowledge about genetics. Content is presented in a video, and then students work through several examples of Punnett Squares, both with the instructor and on their own. The lesson concludes with students drawing “genes” for a Llama and constructing a Punnett square and phenotypically correct drawings of the genetic combinations.
This lesson introduces students to the text of the 5th amendment of the US Constitution and allows them to read and interpret what they think it means. Students work in groups to form this opinion and then justify it to the class. The class then classifies the opinions as either loose or strict and complete a modified Frayer Model as an assessment.
This lesson starts by having students identify different adaptive designs that they encounter on a daily bases. After this, students work in groups to disassemble and reassemble a pair of eye glasses to generate ideas on how to improve the design. Students then create their own design of the pair of glasses, and conclude by establishing a working definition of adaptive design.
In this activity, students will learn the actions to take for each step of the engineering design process. Each group of students will receive a kit of materials that they will use to construct a bridge. Students will then test their designs to determine how much weight can be held by the bridge they designed.
As always, if you need a specific lesson plan that has not been developed, please email Jennifer or James and we will be happy to put one together for you!
