LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

CEU courses open for enrollment

The Civil Rights Movement in Context
Investigate the precursors to the Civil Rights Movement, its leadership, its opposition, and its legacy, including lesser-studied events of the movement and primary sources.
Take this course: Begins February 2.

From the education reference

experiential education
Instructional approach based on the idea that ideal learning occurs through experience. Learning tasks require the active participation of the student in hands-on opportunities and must connect content to the student's life.
service learning
Intentional combination of community service objectives and learning opportunities that benefits both the recipient and provider of the service. Student service learning projects should be structured to link learning tasks to self-reflection so that they enrich learning, strengthen communities, and teach civic responsibility.
discovery learning
Learning that takes place, not through instruction, but through examination, analysis, or experimentation.
cooperative learning
Instructional method in which students work together in small, heterogeneous groups to complete a problem, project, or other instructional goal, while teachers act as guides or facilitators. This method works to reinforce a student’s own learning as well as the learning of his or her fellow group members.
collaborative learning
An umbrella term for the variety of approaches and models in education that involve the shared intellectual efforts by students working in small groups to accomplish a goal or complete a task.
learning contract
An agreement between a teacher and a student regarding how that student will achieve specified learning goals or objectives.
learning disability
A discrepancy between expected achievement and observed achievement, also known as "unexpected underachievement."
Dimensions of Learning model
Model of learning developed by Marzano et al (1988) that links content area knowledge, metacognition, and critical and creative thinking with a taxonomy of thinking skills and thinking processes.
project-based learning
Teaching approach that engages students in sustained, collaborative real-world investigations. Projects are organized around a driving question, and students participate in a variety of tasks that seek to meaningfully address this question.
problem-based learning
Model of instruction in which the teacher poses an authentic problem for student resolution. PBL may be one among many strategies in a classroom or an entire curricular and instructional approach. In the course of problem-solving, students work cooperatively in groups to learn content and skills related to real world problems. The teacher acts as a facilitator to learning.
digital game-based learning
Instructional method that incorporates educational content or learning principles into video games with the goal of engaging learners. Applications of digital game-based learning draw upon the constructivist theory of education.

Didn't find what you were looking for?

Experiential education
This article explains the history and theory of experiential education, which combines active learning with concrete experiences, abstract concepts, and reflection in an effort to engage all learning styles.
Format: article
By Heather Coffey.
North Carolina A&T University Farm
Discover Agriculture provides an interactive experience for students to learn about agricultural science including farming with the environment in mind.
Format: article/field trip opportunity
Bartering - A system of exchange
By participating in a game called "Barter Bag" students will be introduced to the concept of trade. This introduces students to the concept of bartering.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Social Studies)
By Carlene M. White.
Blue Ridge Parkway and Museum of North Carolina Minerals
Students from a five county region actively attend this Museum for experiential learning and are introduced to the wealth of cultural and natural resources of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Format: article/field trip opportunity
Project-based learning
Project-based learning is a teaching approach that engages students in sustained, collaborative real-world investigations. Projects are organized around a driving question, and students participate in a variety of tasks that seek to meaningfully address this...
Format: article
By Heather Coffey.
Comparing proverbs
The lesson will feature comparisons of American and African proverbs.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Pat Chancer.
ACE - Agapé Center for Environmental Education
The ACE Education program is a carefully developed and integrated program designed to meet goals for science and social studies set forth by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (Standard Course of Study). The Center's activities...
Format: article/field trip opportunity
Polar bears and their adaptations
In this introductory activity, students will be introduced to the concept of adaptation by exploring how a polar bear's body adapts to survive in the harsh environment in which it lives.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Science)
By Heather Spradling.
YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly
Learn about the wildlife of the mountains and practice using a compass at this conference center located outside of Asheville, NC.
Format: article/field trip opportunity
The key to a map
The students will use a map of the classroom to strengthen their map reading skills. They will work in groups and use a prepared map of the classroom to find hidden messages.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
By Melissa Lasher.
"Card" Specialty
Students will make a greeting card for their pen pals or book buddies while studying specialization and division of labor in Social Studies.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Social Studies)
By Pat Pennino.
Goals, goals, goals
Students will be introduced to the benefits of goal-setting and the steps in the goal setting process. A group activity with a ball will give students practice in all steps of the process and an opportunity to see the benefits of setting goals.
Format: lesson plan (grade K–8 Guidance)
By Pat Nystrom.
Spiders and monarchs and bees, oh my!
Exploring the world of insects and spiders can replace children's fear with fascination.
By Linda Dow.
Making connections for environmental education
How can you get students fired up about environmental education? Get them outside and get them involved in local issues through activism, service learning, and teaching others.
Format: article/best practice
By Carolyn Moser.
Tracking animals
Large groups of children are likely to scare off mammals, but they can learn to identify tracks to learn more about the animals that left them.
By Linda Dow.
Field trips in context
Opportunities abound in North Carolina for hands-on interdisciplinary learning experiences.
Format: article
By Lesley Richardson.
Japanese tea ceremony: A critique for screens and scrolls
The last part of a larger unit on discussing and evaluating Japanese screen and scroll paintings as well as creating one. The purpose of this unit plan is to introduce descriptive aspects of art criticism while teaching them the art and culture of Japan. Students critique illustrations of classmates' descriptions of Japanese screens or scrolls.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Visual Arts Education)
By Michelle Harrell.
Helping Latino students feel comfortable in your classroom
In Bridging Spanish language barriers in Southern schools, page 2.2
Most Latino students have experiences, family backgrounds, and expectations that conflict with the expectations of the American classroom environment. By understanding the expectations of Latino students and their parents, teachers can help them to succeed.
By Sarah Plastino.
The control game
The control game is an experiential, hands on opportunity for students to explore their ideas about personal control and influence in their own lives and their control and influence in the lives of others.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 Guidance)
By Wendy Logan.
4-H on the home front
In this lesson plan, secondary students will analyze a variety of primary source textual materials to investigate how young rural people were encouraged to support the war effort during World War II.
Format: lesson plan (grade 8 and 11–12 Social Studies)
By Pauline S. Johnson.