As part of the U.S. government's commitment to Let Girls Learn, First Lady Michelle Obama and the Peace Corps have formed a powerful collaboration to expand access to education for adolescent girls around the world. Educating girls is essential to healthy and thriving communities but, globally, 62 million girls are not in school, and barriers to adolescent girls completing school are particularly significant. In some countries, fewer than 10% of teenage girls complete secondary school. This programme will address that challenge by empowering local leaders to put lasting solutions in place. Peace Corps Volunteers who live and work at the grassroots level will serve as catalysts of community-led change, and every American can get involved and make a difference. https://letgirlslearn.peacecorps.gov/ FOR SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS AND OTHER EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS SPECIFICALLY FOR GIRLS Goal: Students will learn how to develop an hypothesis and create an engineering investigation to solve a hypothetical problem. Objectives: 1. Students working in one of two groups will follow the steps in engineering design/experimentation to create an hypothesis regarding the use of limestone vs. concrete to create blocks to be used in building miniature pyramids. 2. After learning how to mix limestone or concrete (depending on group), students working with either limestone or concrete will follow the steps in engineering design. 3. Students will build miniature pyramids using either limestone or concrete. 4. Students will test their pyramids' ability to withstand strong winds, sandstorms, and torrential rains using simulation. 5. Students will determine whether concrete or limestone were most likely used to build the Egyptian pyramids by using both to create mini-blocks and using them to create pyramids. 6. Students will record results using charts and anecdotal records. 7. Students will complete engineering a solution by working as a class by designing and building a prototype pyramid that can withstand salt water and aquatic conditions for the future scenario.

This PBL project-based unit continues where "When We Couldn't Drink the Water," a unit based on the 2014 Toledo Water Crisis, stopped. WWCDTW reflected all that happened in Ohio's fourth largest city the first weekend in August just weeks before the start of the 2014-2015 school year. This project seeks a solution that will prevent a future water crisis like the one in Toledo. Based on scientific principles and concepts, this project involves students in collaborative research, investigation and experimentation to help them understand processes like algal blooming, denitrification, and bioreactors. Students will be emerged in the ongoing struggle for water quality in the Great Lakes , the cycle of denitrifcation, beaver dam-building, and bioreactors designing and construction. Students with advanced scientific skills and/or gifted students will have differentiation, as well as will students with special needs. Assessments are imbedded. There is also a pretest to assess prior knowledge. A Hands-On Biochemistry PBL Project Goal Students will engage in a PBL project to find a way to keep the algal blooms resulting from the nitrogen in agricultural run-off from farms into the Great Lakes in collaboration with other schools, studying the 2014 Toledo Water Crisis and researching, investigating, and experimenting to find solutions that can be shared through a variety of digital formats. Toledo Water Crisis http://voicethread.com/share/7306686

Goal: To help students learn how to develop a hypothesis and create an experiment to test it. Ojectives: 1. Students will examine a diagram to try and determine which of 4 cisterns will be filled with water first using pipes that are used to fill them. 2. Based on observation and critical thinking each student will create a hypothesis, then team up with students with the same theory of the problem. 3. Students will work in groups based on their hypotheses to create 3D versions of the drawings to test their hypotheses. 4. Students will discuss their findings with the entire class and share how they came to their conclusion. 5. Students will revise their hypothesis based on the results of their experiments and class discussion. *6. Students will follow up the discussion by following links online to see various approaches to the problem. *7. Students will tackle problems related to the topic to use mathematics to find solutions. *Grades 6 and 7, 4-7 gifted only Materials Needed (Grades K-3, Special Education Middle School): 1. Milk cartons 2. Straws 3. 1 liter bottles half full of water Materials Needed (Grades 4-7, Special Education High School): 1. 1 or 2 liter bottle 2. Straws 4. Plastic water pitchers THIS RESOURCE ALSO INCLUDES A FLIPPED CLASSROOM ACTIVITY

"Cater Pillars" and "Butter Flies:" Language, Science, Math, and Art Plus Any Other Subjects That Can Be Added to This Fun Unit to Start the School Year Introducing Specific Skills, Collaborating with Peers, Investigating and Researching Online, and Including Family in Creating an Artifact for Display Goal: Students will learn how to investigate a topic that involves multiple subject areas and gain understanding about the topic and how the various subjects covered relate to each other. Objectives: 1. Students will learn how to research, investigate a topic using available resources individually, in pairs, and in groups. 2. Students will use skills in various subject areas to problem-solve, explain, calculate, and present materials to ask or answer questions or verify information. 3. Students will observe caterpillars and record changes as they go through metamorphosis. 4. Students will learn how to treat animals ethically during scientific observation and follow rules regarding the ethical treatment of animals involved in scientific experimentation. 5. Students will learn how to record and interpret scientific data. 6. Students will learn how to test scientific data and ask scientific questions about results and possibly create hypotheses for future study. 7. Students will learn how to create presentations of scientific study using technology, if possible. introduce this unit by having students read the following article on their tablets, laptops, or smart phones or in pairs or groups on school computers or smartboards. Note: if there's no available technology, create a power point presentation covering all of the points in the article and include the illustrations.

Inspired by Pokémon Go's use of maps, this curriculum gets students coming back to school this fall outside observing nature. The curriculum activities can be used at all grade levels and for all abilities. It includes school activities, as well as flipped classroom activities at home. Goal To teach observation, investigation, and presentation skills using integrated curricula to become more aware of natural phenomena in neighborhood and school environments and how to use science, math, geography, and oral/written descriptive language to study, record, and share environmental information and understanding. Objectives: 1. Students will observe natural phenomena (birds, trees, and in SchoolZone and MyZone). 2. Students will record information collected and synthesize through scientific thinking based on observation, research, inquiry, and presentation. 3. Students will work in pairs/groups to record, assess, and synthesize data, using research and observations made during investigations of their natural environments.

Goal Students will be able to research facts about rabbits and compare fact with fiction, then use their creativity to create their own bunny stories or plays. Objectives 1. Students will learn that rabbits do not lay eggs, but give birth to living children 2. Students will learn how rabbits became part of Easter traditions. 3. Students will use information gathered to decide if they want to have a rabbit in the classroom. 4. Students will work together in groups to research the following information about caring for rabbits a. What is the best place to house a rabbit? b. What rabbits eat and how much? c. How to breed a bunny and care it's babies. 5. Students will use their creativity to act out or write stories about rabbits 6. Students will use cover illustrations of rabbit stories to create their own. 7. Students will browse the library for stories and/or books for more rabbit stories. The following video can be used to demonstrate how rabbits are born, but it may not be appropriate for some children. Use discretion. Watch "Rabbit giving birth-baby bunnies" on YouTubehttps://youtu.be/9ohMZF5C-i8

Goal: To give students an historical view of the food pyramid and it's effect on the eating habits of Americans at home and at school Objectives: 1. Students will study the history of the food pyramid and how it has changed. 2. Students will investigate how the food pyramid is used to promote good nutrition in school lunches and meals at home and elsewhere and how food is part of culture. 3. Students will create their own "healthy food" posters based on eating foods from outdoor markets, fast food, food trucks, restaurants, taco stands, vending machines, bakeries, vegan eateries, etc. 4. Students will contribute to a healthy snack food pyramid for their classroom. 5. Students will compare and contrast the traditional food pyramid with the recent "my plate." 6. Students will create a food pyramid for fictitious and real foods featured in a popular movie. 7. Students will create a new concept for a food chart and create a graphic of it as an ad promoting their new and improved food chart with a catchy name, 21st century "app" logo, with hypothetical nutritional information for each for food item, as well as recipes and suggestions for complimentary foods.

This curriculum for students. grades 4-8 encourages the study of a series of activities requiring critical thinking, scientific study through research, hypothesizing and testing a hypothesis, encourages scientific study and research based on the video introducing the curriculum and a detailed article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iNcRJGzzxs ARTICLE: https://myweatherupdatenow.com/post/asteroid-wiped-dinosaurs-caused-years-long-winter?notifid=10362&cid=998&segid=1&impid=697476bc2e2bf50228434df4ded2abHave students read article in groups of four or less, paying attention to underlined words: GOAL: Understanding how dinosaurs became extinct through research and simulation. OBJECTIVE: Students in grades 4-8 will understand how asteroids can affect the earth and how to reproduce the extinction of dinosaurs due to an asteroid that hit earth 66 million years ago causing a prolonged nuclear winter, and apply what they learn to predict and prevent future extinctions on earth.