Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning
The authentic teaching of academic vocabulary encompasses many components, such as incorporating students' prior knowledge, using engaging strategies, and promoting student ownership and understanding. In this session, participants will explore and evaluate strategies that increase the authentic teaching... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: February 8th, 2024
This professional development session focuses on the components of authentic learning. The session is designed to have a minimum of eight participants. Participants will connect the components of authentic learning to a Rumpelstiltskin lesson and explore ways to make their own lessons more authentic... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: August 6th, 2024
Meeting students where they are can seem like a daunting task, particularly when it comes to the ever-changing world of technology. However, using intentionally designed games can make learning fun, provide opportunities for critical thinking, and enhance knowledge related to mindset. Participants will... Read more »
Created by: Lindsay Hawkins
Date Updated: January 29th, 2024
This session provides an overview for staff at site recipients of 2018 GEAR UP projects. Through a series of activities, staff will be introduced to the K20 Center, understand what GEAR UP is, share the value of authentic teaching and learning, and also communicate the value of college-going culture. Read more »
Created by: Jane Baber
Date Updated: November 9th, 2021
Participants in this activity immerse themselves in the K20 LEARN website and design process. Working with a peer collaborator, they complete the planning, design, and development stages of lesson building. At the conclusion of the activity, their lesson will be published. Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: March 7th, 2024
Productive student conversations are a vital part of deep, flexible understanding of content. During this session, participants will increase their awareness of productive and scaffolded student conversations in the classroom or within a synchronous online learning platform, such as Summit or Odyssey. Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: February 22nd, 2024
During this second day of the Formative Assessment Institute, participants focus on distinguishing assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning. Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: June 5th, 2024
This professional learning session will focus on how to incorporate a love of reading and student choice into all classes. Participants will explore a variety of authentic strategies that support reading comprehension, substantive conversations, and student choice to gain a deeper understanding that... Read more »
Created by: Patricia McDaniels-Gomez
Date Updated: July 5th, 2024
This session provides an overview for staff at site recipients of the 2023 GEAR UP for LIFE project. The session aims to introduce staff to the K20 Center, explain what GEAR UP is, highlight the value of authentic teaching and learning, and communicate the value of college-going culture. Read more »
Created by: Sherry Franklin
Date Updated: December 15th, 2023
Students will identify common lab mistakes via simulated lab stations. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: June 22nd, 2023
Lab Safety
This lesson is intended to be either an introduction or a refresher of Darwinian fitness. Students think about what it means to be 'fit' and the impact humans have had on this natural mechanism. Read more »
Created by: K20 Center
Date Updated: June 8th, 2022
Darwinian Fitness
In this lesson, students will learn to compare anatomical similarities and differences between organisms and explain the relationship between organisms based on homologous structures. They begin by reading a recent research article on either parrots or penguins. Then, students learn about the ancient... Read more »
Created by: Teresa Randall
Date Updated: January 11th, 2024
Homologous Structures
In this lesson, students learn about the literary elements of character, setting, and plot while reading and exploring several stories: "Love Monster" by Rachel Bright, "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak, "I Need My Monster" by Amanda Noll, and "How To Catch a Monster" by Adam Wallace and... Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: October 19th, 2020
Literary Elements
Colloquial language is informal and consists of words or phrases known primarily to native speakers of a language. In this lesson, students will examine not only how familiar they are with English colloquialisms, but also how often these colloquialisms are used in our speaking and writing, and the effect... Read more »
Created by: Jane Baber
Date Updated: October 17th, 2024
Colloquial Language
This lesson is a middle school adaptation of the high school "How Does Your Garden Grow?" lesson. Students will explore soil health principles, soil chemistry, nutrient cycles, and environmental impacts of soil quality and investigate optimal soil conditions in which to grow plants. Using the data and... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: June 16th, 2022
Conservation, Ecosystems, and Soil Health
This lesson is a middle school adaptation of the high school "How Does Your Garden Grow?" lesson. Students will explore soil health principles, soil chemistry, nutrient cycles, and environmental impacts of soil quality. Students will construct models that demonstrate the flow of matter and energy in... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: June 6th, 2022
Conservation, Ecosystems, and Soil Health
Students will explore the effects of an increase in nitrogen and phosphorus in aquatic ecosystems. They will collect data from an algae growth investigation and complete a reading about human-produced nutrient inputs. Using these sources of evidence, students will develop a causal explanation of the... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: July 7th, 2022
Effects of Disturbance on Ecosystems
Students will sort 14 star spectra and create a star classification system to develop science classification skills. Through analysis of figures that describe the OBAFGKM classification system and temperature effects on element absorption in stars, students will learn that star spectra can be used to... Read more »
Created by: Lindsey Link
Date Updated: July 9th, 2024
Light, Stars, and Blackbody Radiation
In this lesson, students will learn about the four points of natural selection and how they drive the evolutionary patterns of a species. Students will determine how to answer evolutionary questions through interpreting graphs and making connections among natural selection concepts. Students also will... Read more »
Created by: Brittany Bowens
Date Updated: September 10th, 2024
Natural Selection
The ability to sequence events in a text is a key comprehension strategy, especially for narrative texts. This lesson will allow students to construct a story by placing events into sequential order, analyze clue words that writers use for sequencing, and create a sequential timeline of the story "Ada... Read more »
Created by: Aimee King
Date Updated: September 4th, 2024
Sequencing of Events
In this lesson, students connect passive transport across a semi-permeable membrane to show how the antibiotic vancomycin works to kill MRSA. Students complete two simple osmosis and diffusion investigations, learn the details of passive transport, and apply their conceptual understanding to create... Read more »
Created by: Heather Shaffery
Date Updated: October 17th, 2022
Passive Transport, Homeostasis, and Antibiotics
This lesson introduces students to the emotions of anxiety and anxiety disorders. Students identify the causes and symptoms of certain anxiety disorders, including Social Anxiety Disorder, phobias, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Students then have an opportunity to explore different coping strategies... Read more »
Created by: Daniel Schwarz
Date Updated: January 18th, 2024
Causes, Symptoms, and Coping Strategies
U.S. Constitution and Equal Protection of Laws
In this lesson, students will learn how the Fourteenth Amendment impacted the history of civil rights in the United States within a focused context. Students will discover the origins, significance, and lasting effects of the 14th Amendment by examining a collection of primary and secondary sources.... Read more »
Created by: Tanner Lusher
Date Updated: February 21st, 2024
U.S. Constitution and Equal Protection of Laws
Students will learn how location impacts businesses and markets. Students will also identify the infrastructure, manufacturing, and markets of different businesses: Huffman’s, Braum’s, and Netflix. Read more »
Created by: Tanner Lusher
Date Updated: September 24th, 2024
Importance of Location
This collection features tech tools and instructional strategies for supporting group awareness of learning. Group-constructed visual representations have been shown to affect knowledge acquisition significantly. When students see their learning and co-constructed knowledge as a group, it builds confidence... Read more »
In this strategy, student input is used to create an in-the-moment poster about a given topic. The Anchor Chart is then hung on the wall for later...
Google Drawings is a tool within Google Drive that can be used to create anything from simple charts to elaborate concept maps, and it is easy to integrate...
View Guided Instructions »