Culture and Society

• Hero or Not A Hero?

  Students will determine what makes a hero a hero.

• Notice, Wonder: Brooklyn

  Are those people painting the Brooklyn Bridge?

  Show 1 Steps

  1. First, students watched painters working to protect the Brooklyn Bridge’s steel cables from rust and weather in 1914.

• Tournament of Mythological Creatures

  Students will judge with criteria to decide which mythological creature is the winner.

  Show 2 Steps

  1. Students pick judging criteria, research the eight creatures, and decide each first-round matchup.

  2. Students run rounds two and three, crown a champion, and explain their thinking.

• Domesticated Animals Tournament

  Students will judge with criteria to decide which domesticated animal is the champion.

  Show 2 Steps

  1. First, students work through the initial round of the tournament.

  2. Then, they complete the remaining rounds and decide on their winner!

• Prefixes and Suffixes in Other Languages

  Students will analyze word parts with the same meaning across multiple languages.

  Show 3 Steps

  1. Students investigate prefixes and suffixes in various languages using Google Translate to find opposites of English words.

  2. Then, students note patterns and investigate how other languages make “person who” words.

  3. After noting another round of patterns, students can pick their own word parts to investigate in the other languages.

• Famous Structures

  Students sort famous structures and design one of their own.

  Show 4 Steps

  1. Students will make a list of famous structures from around the world, representing all continents.

  2. They’ll group those structures into 3 to 5 categories based on any characteristic they’d like (except location!).

  3. Students create short labels for each group of famous structures and choose one that best represents each category.

  4. Students choose a category and design a new structure that improves upon a famous one from the previous lesson.

• Notice, Wonder: Ramses

  Here’s a very large statue of an Egyptian Pharaoh being reassembled.

• The 8th Wonder of the World Tournament

  Students will judge with criteria and decide which of these eight wonders deserves to become the Eighth Wonder of the World.

  Show 2 Steps

  1. First, students work through the initial round of the tournament.

  2. Then, they complete the remaining rounds and decide on their winner!

• Exploration Technology Tournament

  Students will judge with criteria and determine which of these pieces of exploration technology wins the tournament.

  Show 2 Steps

  1. First, students work through the initial round of the tournament.

  2. Then, they complete the remaining rounds and decide on their winner!

• Tournament of Ancient Inventions

  Students work through a tournament to determine which of these inventions is most influential? Least useful today? Most taken-for-granted?

  Show 2 Steps

  1. First, students work through the initial round of the tournament.

  2. Then, they complete the remaining rounds and decide on their winner!