Students apply the mechanical advantages and problem-solving capabilities of six types of simple machines (wedge, wheel and axle, lever, inclined plane, screw, pulley) as they discuss modern structures in the spirit of the engineers and builders of the great pyramids. While learning the steps of the engineering design process, students practice teamwork, creativity and problem solving.

In this activity, students are challenged to design a contraption using simple machines to move a circus elephant into a rail car. After students consider their audience and constraints, they work in groups to brainstorm ideas and select one concept to communicate to the class.

This is a scholarly survey of Early Tudor literature by David Carlson, University of Ottawa.

Students are introduced to the engineering challenges involved with interplanetary space travel. In particular, they learn about the gravity assist or "slingshot" maneuver often used by engineers to send spacecraft to the outer planets. Using magnets and ball bearings to simulate a planetary flyby, students investigate what factors influence the deflection angle of a gravity assist maneuver.

Students continue their pyramid building journey, acting as engineers to determine the appropriate wedge tool to best extract rock from a quarry and cut into pyramid blocks. Using sample materials (wax, soap, clay, foam) representing rock types that might be found in a quarry, they test a variety of wedges made from different materials and with different degrees of sharpness to determine which is most effective at cutting each type of material.

Video clips of native Spanish speakers provide examples for students who are taking Spanish. The videos feature Spanish speakers describing the jobs of their parents or relatives. Provides a transcript as well so you can read along.

Various listening examples of native speakers in different dialects describing their most recent jobs in detail. Provides a transcript as well so you can read along. Great way to bring native speakers into the classroom and increase vocabulary!

This activity demonstrates how potential energy (PE) can be converted to kinetic energy (KE) and back again. Given a pendulum height, students calculate and predict how fast the pendulum will swing by understanding conservation of energy and using the equations for PE and KE. The equations are justified as students experimentally measure the speed of the pendulum and compare theory with reality.

This activity shows students the engineering importance of understanding the laws of mechanical energy. More specifically, it demonstrates how potential energy can be converted to kinetic energy and back again. Given a pendulum height, students calculate and predict how fast the pendulum will swing by using the equations for potential and kinetic energy. The equations will be justified as students experimentally measure the speed of the pendulum and compare theory with reality.

A survey of Campion's works from the Cambridge History of English and American Literature. Includes link to an essay on his prosody.

Links from this site access biographical information concerning Thomas Campion, texts of his works, articles and essays about his works, and a list of other available sources.

Through a series of activities, students discover that the concept of mechanical advantage describes reality fairly well. They act as engineers creating a design for a ramp at a construction site by measuring four different inclined planes and calculating the ideal mechanical advantage versus the actual mechanical advantage of each. Then, they use their analysis to make recommendations for the construction site.

Interactive quizzes to help develop skill using suffixes in vocabulary. After a short introductory slide show, students are asked to identify the meaning of words in context that use similar suffixes. Next, students fill in the appropriate word to complete a sentence. After that, students match suffixes to complete words in context. Immediate feedback follows both correct and incorrect answers.

Students learn more about magnetism, and how magnetism and electricity are related in electromagnets. They learn the fundamentals about how simple electric motors and electromagnets work. Students also learn about hybrid gasoline-electric cars and their advantages over conventional gasoline-only-powered cars.

Twenty four full text poems by Dante G. Rossetti (1828-1882), English poet and painter who was a leading member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

This site from the University of Toronto provides the full texts for 16 of George Meredith's poems.

This site indexes a full-text of 11 of Henry Vaughan's poems. Also included is some biographical information.

This site from the University of Toronto has links to 39 poems written by Percy Shelley, with line-by-line notes for each work. A section of biographical information is provided.

This site from the University of Toronto provides the text of 13 of Rossetti's most famous poems. Some biographical information is also provided.

This site contains 23 poems and biographical information about the author, Robert Burns.