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

hands-on activities
Instructional activity in which students actively work with and manuipulate materials and objects in order to study a concept or solve problems.
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.

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Hands up for telling time
This introductory lesson on telling time will expose children to clocks and how they work. Children will begin to understand how to tell time and how the two separate hands on the clock operate. They will also gain understanding of the concept of time in general.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 Mathematics)
By Lisa Williamson.
The learning cycle
A three-part model of scientific inquiry that encourages students to develop their own understanding of a scientific concept, explore and deepen that understanding, and then apply the concept to new situations.
Format: article/best practice
By David Walbert.
Making change to $1.00.
In this lesson students will work in small groups making change to $1.00 using coins and pictures of items priced from Sunday fliers. In advance the teacher will cut out pictures of items costing less than $1.00.
Format: lesson plan (grade 2 Mathematics)
By Julie Hohns.
Haw River Festival Learning Celebration
Don't miss this fun and informative festival celebrating the Haw River, its history, and the creatures that live there.
Format: article/field trip opportunity
Growing cooties
This lesson teaches the importance of washing hands to reduce the spread of germs. In this lesson, students will see mold develop over time on a potato as the result of handling the potato with dirty hands.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 Healthful Living)
By Ronda Odenwelder.
Fruit Loops with fractions
This activity provides access to using visual and hands-on practice in solving problems with fractions. By using cereal, each individual student will be able to work individually and as a group in using different methods of working with fractions, and practice their skills in addition, multiplication, division and subtraction. A prior knowledge of the basic multiplication tables and common multiples will be very advantageous in working through this activity.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Mathematics)
By Deanne Davis.
Color-coded time
This lesson introduces telling time to the minute using the analog and digital clocks. The hands are color-coded to assist with hour and minute hand discrimination. The student will use the time on the digital clock, which can then be transferred to the more difficult analog clock.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)
By Anne Clodfelter.
Telling time practice
Students will practice telling time skills using an applet developed by Shodor Educational Foundation, Inc. Permission has been granted for the use of the materials as part of the workshop "Interactivate Your Bored Math Students."
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–3 Mathematics)
By Bonnie Boaz.
Tennis skills
Students will refine their basic tennis skills by participating in a variety of activities for the beginner.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 )
By Larry Siers.
Passing for success
Student will learn how to pass a basketball, one of the skills necessary to succeed at the game of basketball.
Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 Healthful Living)
By Pierre Dacons.
Beginning vaulting
This lesson will help students learn the basics of an approach, various vaults, and landing techniques.
Format: lesson plan (grade 7 Healthful Living)
By Kathy Kress.
Discovery learning
This reference article explains the theory of discovery learning and discusses its history and its use in the classroom.
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
Surprise box descriptions
Students will learn to give oral definitions and descriptions. Each student will take a turn describing the contents of a plastic egg with a category plus attribute format. Other members in the group will have an opportunity to guess the contents of the egg after listening to the description.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts and Information Skills)
By Susan Karcher.
The Science House
Through school demonstration programs, student science camps, teacher workshops and innovative laboratory training, and support projects, the NCSU Science House partners with K-12 teachers to emphasize the use of hands-on learning activities in mathematics and science.
Format: article/field trip opportunity
Piggies
This activity is a fun, interactive lesson that integrates children's literature with math. (A great way to integrate author studies!) This activity allows students to be involved in all 4 learning styles (visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic). I spread this lesson out over two days.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Mathematics)
By Stephanie Hatcher.
Island basketball
In this activity, the class will be divided into two teams: the "Sharks," who play defense and the "Swimmers," who play offense. The "Swimmers" attempt to cross the ocean and avoid the "Sharks."
Format: lesson plan (grade 5 Healthful Living)
By Resa Holt.
Does one cup of everything weigh the same?
The student will predict whether one cup of everything weighs the same. Next, the student will estimate the mass of several cups of materials. Then, using a primer balance the student will find the actual mass of each cup of materials in grams. The students will order the cups from lightest to heaviest by mass.
Format: lesson plan (grade 4 Mathematics)
By Christy Bunch.
Classroom food web
This lesson is to demonstrate which organisms feed on one another and how food webs are created.
Format: lesson plan (grade 6 Science)
By Kurt Oswald.
Graphing with food
Students will use a variety of foods to make graphs. Each food should be used for a separate lesson for a total of ten lessons.
Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Mathematics)
By Bunnie R. Brewer.