Playlist: Bookmarks
Two Animals Switch Biomes
What if a capybara and a kangaroo rat switched homes? Would their adaptations be helpful at all?
Tournament of Mythological Creatures
Who will win the tournament of mythological creatures!?
Prefixes and Suffixes in Other Languages
Let’s go beyond merely memorizing word parts and instead analyze across languages. How do other languages make a word the opposite?
Not Like The Others: Penguins
Four penguins. One doesn’t belong. But which one? That depends on your argument.
Animal Adaptation Tournament
Which animal has the most interesting, most valuable, or strangest adaptations?
Not Like The Others: Birds of the Tropical Rainforest
Which of these four birds is not like the others?
New Uses for a Paperclip
So what are some new ways to use a paperclip?
Create A Civilization: Design A Flag
What makes for a good flag? What makes a bad flag?
Anti-Checkers
Sure, anyone can win at checkers… but can you lose!?
A Lunar Survival Mission
A favorite of mine! This task is delightfully complex and ambiguous, forcing students to make choices without enough information and with no right answer. How will they survive on the moon for three days?
Story Starter: A Magical School
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in at a magical school.
Story Starter: Somewhere In Space
Students use 12 random phrases to create a story that takes place in space!
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.
Disneyland Parking Structure Math Project
Your students will use estimation strategies to figure out how many parking spots are there in the parking structure at Disneyland? And you bet I reveal the real answer!
Notice, Wonder: Climber
A mysterious image. Reveal it slowly. Let your students wonder!
What’s In My Brain: Cute Baby vs Fast Cheetah
Can students spot similes vs metaphors?
Bulls and Cows
How quickly can you break the numeric code?
Dots and Boxes
Who can make the most boxes from dots in this strategy game?
Sprouts
Learn how to play the abstract, paper-and-pencil game Sprouts.
Fractals: Sierpinski’s Triangle
What if this triangle pattern just kept repeating… forever!?
Response to Lit: An Inductive Approach
For TeachersHere’s how one teacher uses inductive thinking to help students respond to literature.