Creativity in Mind

I've done this activity from 7th through 12th grades and it's always entertaining to see what they come up with. Since they're not actually building it, they can really think out of the box (ex- nuclear energy and thermal energy become popular). I usually do this after a lesson on energy and then I will show then the OK Go, "This Too Shall Pass" video as that is the ultimate contraption to model (in my opinion). You may also wish to show them Rube Goldberg examples. Or, modify a bit and simply u

I used this with my Environmental Science class. It is a compilation of owl pellet resources I've used over the years. I re-typed it and added an introduction at the beginning with comprehension questions. It took a full week in a daily 80-minute block schedule to complete this, so a standard 40-minute model would need closer to two weeks. I have included a rubric at the end of the project. I know there are a lot of Owl Pellet activities out there. If you are looking to have students do a DEEP D

I used this for an Environmental Science elective class, but it could be used in any discipline really (famous authors/novels pitted against each other, world leaders, cell organelles...truly anything!). It would also be good for a speech and debate class because at the end they have to get up and debate their bracket partner. I printed enough brackets to have the students fill out one to pre-guess the winners of each bracket and one while we were going through the rounds (to vote on who they th