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Adolescent Sleep
This Science NetLinks lesson asks young people to put together a creative demonstration portraying how they feel after waking up on a typical morning. For suggestions on facilitating this activity, educators can review the motivation section of the resource. Program participants who are interested in further study of adolescent sleep can use the resources provided to synthesize research findings. For instance, they can analyze the arguments for and against early high school start times, and survey the perferences of their school communities. This kind of project gives youth the opportunity to explore practical solutions to relevant, real-world problems.
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Bio-graph: Graphing Life Events
In this ReadWriteThink activity, participants interview and graph important events in family members' lives. In this process, young people develop their interpersonal skills and learn more about their family histories. They also use graphs to express their feelings about the individual stories. This activity, which can be carried out in multiple steps, presents a valuable opportunity for family and community member involvement.
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Children's Book Project
Inviting young people to write and illustrate their own children's books is a wonderful way to tap their creativity and take their understanding of storytelling to a higher level. This ReadWriteThink project helps learners better appreciate the different elements of a children's story, the importance of illustrations and the ascepts to consider when writing for a specific audience. If youth have an opportunity to share their books with younger children, they also practice valuable leadership skills.
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Designing a Space Station
As part of this Science NetLinks lesson, young people reflect on what it would be like to live in space. They use problem-solving skills to discuss the requirements and challenges space station designers must address. Participants can work together to assess and evaluate a winning design plan submitted by young people to NASA's Space Settlement Design Contest. The separate components of this resource are meaningful on their own, allowing educators and learners to pick and choose the activities or extensions that interest them most.
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Eco-terrorism
in Vail
This EconEdLink lesson
prompts youth to explore choices and their consequences by examining an act of
eco-terrorism. Educators can
present the case study of the actions taken by the Earth Liberation Front in
the ski village of Vail, Colorado. Then, depending on the interests of the
group, participants can research additional information
about the case. Asking young people to examine alternative views of the ski
resort expansion and the impact on the environment cultivates their critical
thinking skills and engages them in an important conversation about life
choices. |
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Escape from the Tomb
This Illuminations resource includes instructions and questions for a mathematical adventure game. To play the game, participants suspend two bowls from the ceiling by springs, with one bowl lower than the other. Teams work together to figure out how many items should be placed in each bowl so that the heights of the bowls are the same. Depending on their level of interest, participants can carry out a basic trial of the activity or go into greater depth, undertaking two additional experiments and performing various calculations.
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Here's Your Chance to Make Millions in the Stock Market
In this activity, part one of a three-part series from EconEdLink, young people learn about the impact that efficient markets have on efforts to time investements in the stock market correctly. They also learn that people investing in stocks should have long-term investment goals. Following a group discussion, participants tackle the online interactive, where they try to predict which stock to buy and test their mettle as investors. These materials hold particular appeal for a group of older youth who are already interested in the stock market.
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Learning
about the Archetypal Journey
The hero is a classic figure in literature and the arts that many young people
find compelling. Most suitable for high school-aged youth, this set of
activities from ArtsEdge
is designed as a way to explore the structure of the heroic archetypal journey.
First, learners watch and analyze the film The Natural as an example
of this structure. Afterwards, they read and analyze a short story that uses
the archetypal journey framework. They may also write original short stories that adhere to
this form. This activity offers a great opportunity to investigate mythology in
one's own culture and may lead to publication online or through a school
journal. |
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Pinwheel
In this Illuminations lesson, young people create parallelograms from square sheets of paper and connect them to form an octagon. During the construction, learners can be prompted to consider angle measures, segment lengths and areas in terms of the original square. The octagon transforms into a pinwheel to cap off the project. Leveraging a hands-on activity like origami to teach math concepts is a great way to enrich afterschool learning experiences.
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Radioactive Decay: A Sweet Simulation of a Half-Life
Youth simulate radioactive decay in this entertaining activity suitable for afterschool. The development section of this Science NetLinks resource explains the key concepts and process involving pouring small candies, such as plain M&M's® or Skittles®, from a cup and counting the ones that fall with their manufacturer's mark down or up. Educators do not need to go into great detail for learners to gain a basic understanding of radioactive half-life and rates of decay. Resources linked in this lesson plan offer learners more information if desired.
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Rhythm & Improv, Jazz & Poetry
Young people listen to and analyze jazz music in this ARTSEDGE lesson, then work together to identify jazz characteristics in poems by Yusef Komunyakaa, Sonia Sanchez and Langston Hughes. Taking up their own writing instruments, participants incorporate elements of sound, rhythm and improvisation into original poems. As the young people begin to understand the interdisciplinary ties between music and literature, educators encourage them to explore and use their creativity. This resource asks learners to examine the role of jazz in different periods of history and offers a great way to initiate afterschool discussions about jazz and poetry, as well as "poetry jams."
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Soundtrack
For My Life
This activity, from ReadWriteThink
invites high school-aged youth to create an autobiographical soundtrack by
pairing important events in their life stories with music that is
representative of those events. Recommended as a group activity, Soundtrack for
My Life is ideal for the afterschool setting as it encourages
participants to explore their identities through the combination of words,
images and music. |
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Soccer Problem
This interactive is designed to accompany the Illuminations lesson "Power of Points," and gives young people a fun way to examine what makes a good soccer kick. In this applet, users change the location of a soccer player as well as the distance between the player and the goal posts. Because the angle changes as the player moves, learners must figure out where to position the player in order to maximize the angle. The mathematical concepts underpinning this interactive, which educators may or may not choose to address explicitly, support a robust learning experience for afterschool participants.
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