Notice, Wonder: Fountain

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Dazzle

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Burton Island

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Order to Chaos: Dominoes or Dam?

Sometimes outside forces turn order into chaos. But sometimes chaos comes from within.

Order and Chaos Hide Inside Each Other

Chaos can contain order. Order can contain chaos! Is chaos ever truly random?

Chaos Can Be Positive or Negative

Sometimes we want order, but sometimes we need chaos!

Introducing Order and Chaos

Introduce Order by exploring “written” vs “unwritten” rules.

Power can be Visible or Invisible

What are examples of unseen Power? And can invisible power be more powerful than visible power?

What’s In My Brain: Lion vs Bear

We’re looking at carnivores vs omnivores.

What’s In My Brain: Italy vs Normandy

We’re looking at countries vs states (and other smaller regions).

What’s In My Brain: Coral vs Water Lilies

Let’s look at saltwater vs freshwater organisms.

What’s In My Brain: Tree vs Tree

Let’s look at deciduous vs coniferous trees.

What’s In My Brain: Ball vs Book

Let’s look at Kinetic vs Potential Energy!

How to Reset Your Brain When You’re Flooded

Allison Edwards explains how changing your senses can reset your brain.

What If… Unreliable Water?

What would the consequences be if a town’s tap water became… unreliable?

What If… Long Life?

What would the consequences be if all people lived much, much longer?

Create A Civ: Capital City

Every great capital is part geography, part human design. Research real ones, then build your own from scratch.

Notice, Wonder: Silver Torch

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

What’s In My Brain!? Walnut vs Clouds

Let’s look at living vs non-living things.

Notice, Wonder: Critter

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: A House

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Introducing Universal Theme of Change

Everything changes. But how does it change? Students brainstorm dozens of examples and boil them down to one big idea.

Introducing Universal Theme of Power

So what could you do with a Universal Theme of Power? Well, here’s an introduction that will get your students’ brains sweating.

Drawing An Impossible Triangle

Here’s how you can draw The Penrose Triangle, an example of an impossible shape.

Notice, Wonder: Craters

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Bloom

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Horde Chess Variant

What if one player had, say, 32 pawns?

Notice, Wonder: Krzywy Las

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Swirls

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Witch’s Fingers

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Ultimate (or Inception) Tic Tac Toe

What if each square on a Tic-Tac-Toe board had another Tic-Tac-Toe board inside of it?

Notice, Wonder: An Orange Thing

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Cram

Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) grid-filling game!

Math Game: Heaps

Try this a simple (but surprisingly strategic) subtraction game!

Notice, Wonder: A Long Line

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice Wonder: Blood Falls

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Impostor Syndrome

How high-performing students can often feel like they aren’t really that great.

Generalization: Change Leads to More Change

Can you think of a time in your life when “Change lead to more change?”

Generalization: Systems Are Made up of Other Systems

A clock is a system. So is a rainforest. So is your school. Once you see systems inside systems, you can’t unsee it.

SCAMPER: Scaffolding Creativity

Asking students to “think creatively” won’t get you far. They won’t know how to start, they’ll get stuck with simple ideas, or they’ll just go completely wild. SCAMPER is a tool for scaffolding the process of creativity.

Notice, Wonder: Forest

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Create A Civilization: A Change In Government

It’s a great moment for your civilization! Power is moving from the hands of a few to a more democratic government.

Notice Wonder: Electronics

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice Wonder: Turbine

Your students will be surprised by the size of this turbine… and by what’s hanging from it!

Notice Wonder: Z-Machine

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Michael

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Notice, Wonder: Etna

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Game: Order and Chaos

Imagine Tic-Tac-Toe if both players could play as both Xs and Os!

Notice, Wonder: A Ship

A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!

Student Introductions with Complexity and Frames

How have you changed over time? Students introduce themselves through the lens of change — and learn a Depth and Complexity tool in the process.

Student Introductions With Depth and Frames

Want to introduce the tools of Depth and Complexity and learn more about your students and introduce the Frame graphic organizer? Have I got the activity for you!

The Thinking Hats

So… do your students moan when forced to work in a group? Part of the problem is that lack the structure to work well with peers. Edward de Bono’s Thinking Hats are a perfect tool to help with this problem.

Improving Presentations 3: The Storyboard and Slides

It’s time to turn that outline into a storyboard and then some actual slides.

Improving Presentations 2: Planning The Outline

After watching some great presenters, let’s outline your presentation!

Create A Civilization: From Hunter Gatherers to Farmers

What happens when your civilization suddenly has a surplus of food? Think of the possibilities!

Create A Civilization Introduction

Your students build a civilization from scratch — rivers, flags, calendars, currency, government. Social studies, science, and writing woven into one year-long project.

How to Play Go

Ready to learn a 2,500-year-old Chinese board game? Let’s… Go!

Reduce Anxiety: Brain Plate (Tool 3)

When a student’s brain is full of worries, everything feels urgent. Brain Plate helps them sort what’s real from what’s noise — and actually do something about it.

Better Stories Part 1: The Big Idea

We open our unit on narrative writing with a big idea: “structure increases creativity.” I show how this is true by bringing in examples from across all disciplines.