This resource contains multiple lesson plans for students in upper elementary school, middle school, and high school. Using a bicycle as a metaphor to help students think about systems, the lessons cover an introduction to systems to deeper analysis.
Recommended grades: Adjustable for grades 3+
Time: Varies
Students assess examples of media (catalogs, magazines, books, etc.) to consider who is (and isn’t) represented, explore the impact of lack of diversity in media, and realize their own rich experiences with diversity.
Recommended for grades: 4 and up
Time: 45-60 minutes
In this icebreaker, participants learn just how important words and actions are when they explore their impact on two apples.
Grades: PreK – 8
Time: 5-10 minutes
Winner of the 2008 Moonbeam Award
A strange substitute teacher with interesting ideas sparks Medea and Claude to think about the world and the choices they make, which leads them on a mysterious hunt to rescue kidnapped dogs.
Participants “become” a being or part of nature and share the lives, concerns, hopes, and wisdom of their being in a Council.
Grades: Recommended for grades 4 and up
Time: 1-2 hours
Students learn to be ad-savvy by exploring the pervasiveness of ads in their lives and by analyzing what ads are trying to sell…and trying to hide.
Recommended grades: 4 and up
Time: 45-60 minutes
Participants receive a visit from a traveling alien on a fact-finding mission to learn how beings treat other beings on Earth.
Recommended grades: 4 and up
Time: 20-45 minutes
Using the five gyres of plastic pollution as a springboard, this activity encourages participants to explore the issues surrounding trash in our oceans and to develop solutions.
Recommended grades: 3-5
Time: 3 to 4 60-minute sessions
This activity encourages students to discover and think about the perspectives of other people and of nonhuman animals using a brief video featuring a mouse and a zucchini on a kitchen counter.
Recommended grades: K-5
Time: 30 minutes
This activity helps young students hone their basic math skills while learning about pet overpopulation.
Recommended grades: K-5
Time: 60 minutes
