Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:  There were political, social, and military aspects of the Civil War. In this unit, grade eight students will analyze ways that various groups, including immigrants, free blacks, enslaved blacks, and Indigenous Peoples, participated in the Civil War.  Students will evaluate Connecticut’s contributions to the Civil War, using primary sources and other media from the time period. Students will investigate the different perspectives in Connecticut regarding the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. Students will analyze how immigration continued during the Civil War era and how this immigration altered the economic and social structure of the United States.  Students will evaluate the purpose, the actions and the results of the Reconstruction era in the American South and compare both the successes and the failures of the Reconstruction era.    Unit Duration:30 Days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks  

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:  There were political, social, and military aspects of the Civil War. In this unit, grade eight students will analyze ways that various groups, including immigrants, free blacks, enslaved blacks, and Indigenous Peoples, participated in the Civil War.  Students will evaluate Connecticut’s contributions to the Civil War, using primary sources and other media from the time period. Students will investigate the different perspectives in Connecticut regarding the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. Students will analyze how immigration continued during the Civil War era and how this immigration altered the economic and social structure of the United States.  Students will evaluate the purpose, the actions and the results of the Reconstruction era in the American South and compare both the successes and the failures of the Reconstruction era.    Unit Duration:30 Days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS: Every nation has an origin story. In this unit, grade eight students will review the reasons for colonization in North America.  Students will analyze the reasons for increasing conflict between the colonies and Great Britain. Students will evaluate the perspectives of various groups, including revolutionaries, women, free Blacks, enslaved Blacks, Indigenous Peoples, and loyalists toward the American Revolution. Students will investigate how the colonies won and examine the perspectives concerning the national identity of this new nation.   Unit Duration: 30 days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 5 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:Every nation has an origin story. In this unit, grade eight students will review the reasons for colonization in North America.  Students will analyze the reasons for increasing conflict between the colonies and Great Britain. Students will evaluate the perspectives of various groups, including revolutionaries, women, free Blacks, enslaved Blacks, Indigenous Peoples, and loyalists toward the American Revolution. Students will investigate how the colonies won and examine the perspectives concerning the national identity of this new nation.   Unit Duration:30 days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 5 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS: One component of an organized community is a representative democracy at which political power and influence is shared and valued.  In this unit, grade eight students will examine the foundations of government in the newly formed United States.  Students will carefully evaluate the origins, purpose, and impact of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  Students will analyze how and why the Constitution created a sharing of power between the states and the national governments and how and why a sharing of power between different branches of the federal government was instituted. Students will carefully evaluate the powers given to citizens as a result of the Bill of Rights.  Students will also analyze the extent to which “liberty for all” was a guiding principle of our founding documents.  Students will evaluate and assess what was stated in the founding documents related to Enslaved People and Indigenous Peoples. Unit Duration: 30 days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks   

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:The differences in economic, political and social attitudes between the North and the South increased in the years leading up to the Civil War. In this unit, grade eight students will evaluate specific causes for the Civil War. Students will investigate the state’s rights and nullification, the issue of slavery and its impact, the increase of industrialization in the north, and the impact of the Haitian Revolution. Students will assess the role of western expansion and analyze and evaluate the increasing tensions between the North and the South.  Unit Duration: 30 Days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS:The differences in economic, political and social attitudes between the North and the South increased in the years leading up to the Civil War. In this unit, grade eight students will evaluate specific causes for the Civil War. Students will investigate the state’s rights and nullification, the issue of slavery and its impact, the increase of industrialization in the north, and the impact of the Haitian Revolution. Students will assess the role of western expansion and analyze and evaluate the increasing tensions between the North and the South.  Unit Duration: 30 Days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS: The Early American Republic exposed many vulnerabilities and challenges in the newly formed Unites States. In this unit, grade eight students will evaluate how individuals, political, religious, and social groups, as well as state and national governmental institutions both promoted and hindered the struggle for freedom, equality, and social justice during this era. Students will analyze and investigate specific legislation from this era related to Indigenous Peoples, the institution of slavery, and newly arrived immigrants. Students will analyze and evaluate primary source perspectives from Indigenous Peoples, free and enslaved blacks, and the immigrant population written during this era.  Students will evaluate the conflicts between federal and state power that took place in this era; they will also examine critical Supreme Course cases of the period.  Unit Duration: 30 Days.Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS: The Early American Republic exposed many vulnerabilities and challenges in the newly formed Unites States. In this unit, grade eight students will evaluate how individuals, political, religious, and social groups, as well as state and national governmental institutions both promoted and hindered the struggle for freedom, equality, and social justice during this era. Students will analyze and investigate specific legislation from this era related to Indigenous Peoples, the institution of slavery, and newly arrived immigrants. Students will analyze and evaluate primary source perspectives from Indigenous Peoples, free and enslaved blacks, and the immigrant population written during this era.  Students will evaluate the conflicts between federal and state power that took place in this era; they will also examine critical Supreme Course cases of the period.  Unit Duration: 30 Days.Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS: The American western expansion had a significant impact on American policy and economic growth. In this unit, grade eight students will analyze why settlers traveled west and evaluate the impact that the Westward expansion had on indigenous people and on other racial and ethnic groups. Students will evaluate how the role of women changed on the frontier. Students will compare and contrast the views of those promoting social change in this era with those who were opposed to increased freedom for various ethnic groups. Students will analyze the impact of the industrial revolution on the American economy, and outline ways that the industrial revolution changed the character of America. Unit Duration:30 Days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Unit Overview/Summary - FOCUS: The American western expansion had a significant impact on American policy and economic growth. In this unit, grade eight students will analyze why settlers traveled west and evaluate the impact that the Westward expansion had on indigenous people and on other racial and ethnic groups. Students will evaluate how the role of women changed on the frontier. Students will compare and contrast the views of those promoting social change in this era with those who were opposed to increased freedom for various ethnic groups. Students will analyze the impact of the industrial revolution on the American economy, and outline ways that the industrial revolution changed the character of America. Unit Duration:30 Days. Five 50-minute sessions per week x 4 weeks 

Students are introduced to the world of creative engineering product design. Through six activities, teams work through the steps of the engineering design process (or loop) by completing an actual design challenge presented in six steps. The project challenge is left up to the teacher or class to determine; it might be one decided by the teacher, brainstormed with the class, or the example provided (to design a prosthetic arm that can perform a mechanical function). As students begin by defining the problem, they learn to recognize the need, identify a target population, relate to the project, and identify its requirements and constraints. Then they conduct research, brainstorm alternative solutions, evaluate possible solutions, create and test prototypes, and consider issues for manufacturing. See the Unit Schedule section for a list of example design project topics.

Huckleberry Finn opens with a warning from its author that misinterpreting readers will be shot. Despite the danger, readers have been approaching the novel from such diverse critical perspectives for 120 years that it is both commonly taught and frequently banned, for a variety of reasons. Studying both the novel and its critics with an emphasis on cultural context will help students develop analytical tools essential for navigating this work and other American controversies. This lesson asks students to combine internet historical research with critical reading. Then students will produce several writing assignments exploring what readers see in Huckleberry Finn and why they see it that way.

Through eight lessons, students are introduced to many facets of dams, including their basic components, the common types (all designed to resist strong forces), their primary benefits (electricity generation, water supply, flood control, irrigation, recreation), and their importance (historically, currently and globally). Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how dams generate electricity. They learn about the structure, function and purpose of locks, which involves an introduction to Pascal's law, water pressure and gravity. Other lessons introduce students to common environmental impacts of dams and the engineering approaches to address them. They learn about the life cycle of salmon and the many engineered dam structures that aid in their river passage, as they think of their own methods and devices that could help fish migrate past dams. Students learn how dams and reservoirs become part of the Earth's hydrologic cycle, focusing on the role of evaporation. To conclude, students learn that dams do not last forever; they require ongoing maintenance, occasionally fail or succumb to "old age," or are no longer needed, and are sometimes removed. Through associated hands-on activities, students track their personal water usage; use clay and plastic containers to model and test four types of dam structures; use paper cups and water to learn about water pressure and Pascal's Law; explore kinetic energy by creating their own experimental waterwheel from two-liter plastic bottles; collect and count a stream's insects to gauge its health; play an animated PowerPoint game to quiz their understanding of the salmon life cycle and fish ladders; run a weeklong experiment to measure water evaporation and graph their data; and research eight dams to find out and compare their original purposes, current status, reservoir capacity and lifespan. Woven throughout the unit is a continuing hypothetical scenario in which students act as consulting engineers with a Splash Engineering firm, assisting Thirsty County in designing a dam for Birdseye River.

Geographic information systems (GIS), once used predominantly by experts in cartography and computer programming, have become pervasive in everyday business and consumer use. This unit explores GIS in general as a technology about which much more can be learned, and it also explores applications of that technology. Students experience GIS technology through the use of Google Earth on the environmental topic of plastics in the ocean in an area known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The use of this topic in GIS makes the unit multidisciplinary, incorporating the physics of ocean currents, the chemistry associated with pollutant degradation and chemical sorption to organic-rich plastics, and ecological impact to aquatic biota.

This Super Lesson utilizes Project Based Learning to assist learners with designing, building, and testing flying contraptions as an introduction to Engineering. The goal of this project is to engage students in collaborative team work and to introduce students to the Science and Engineering Practices: Asking Questions and Defining Problems, Planning and Carrying Out Investigations, and Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions.

We have offered this Super Lesson as an 8-week elective course, developing and strengthening student interest in applied Math and Science topics. It could also be offered within upper elementary or middle school Science and Math courses. In addition, each week’s topic could be used as a stand alone mini-lesson if time is limited. We have worked to include multiple options within this unit to make it accessible to both general education and special education programs, including recommendations for modifications and extensions.

This unit provides the framework for conducting an “engineering design field day” that combines 6 hands-on engineering activities into a culminating school (or multi-school) competition. The activities are a mix of design and problem-solving projects inspired by real-world engineering challenges: kite making, sail cars, tall towers, strong towers and a ball and tools obstacle course. The assortment of events engage children who have varied interests and cover a range of disciplines such as aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering. An optional math test—for each of grades 1-6—is provided as an alternative activity to incorporate into the field day event. Of course, the 6 activities in this unit also are suitable to conduct as standalone activities that are unaffiliated with a big event.

Students are introduced to genetic techniques such as DNA electrophoresis and imaging technologies used for molecular and DNA structure visualization. In the field of molecular biology and genetics, biomedical engineering plays an increasing role in the development of new medical treatments and discoveries. Engineering applications of nanotechnology such as lab-on-a-chip and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) microarrays are used to study the human genome and decode the complex interactions involved in genetic processes.

Under the "The Science Behind Harry Potter" theme, a succession of diverse complex scientific topics are presented to students through direct immersive interaction. Student interest is piqued by the incorporation of popular culture into the classroom via a series of interactive, hands-on Harry Potter/movie-themed lessons and activities. They learn about the basics of acid/base chemistry (invisible ink), genetics and trait prediction (parseltongue trait in families), and force and projectile motion (motion of the thrown remembrall). In each lesson and activity, students are also made aware of the engineering connections to these fields of scientific study.

Students follow the steps of the engineering design process (EDP) while learning about assistive devices and biomedical engineering. They first go through a design-build-test activity to learn the steps of the cyclical engineering design process. Then, during the three main activities (7 x 55 minutes each) student teams are given a fictional client statement and follow the EDP steps to design products an off-road wheelchair, a portable wheelchair ramp, and an automatic floor sweeper computer program. Students brainstorm ideas, identify suitable materials and demonstrate different methods of representing solutions to their design problems scale drawings or programming descriptions, and simple models or classroom prototypes.