Middle-earth almost never came to life! On this day, September 21, we remember how J.R.R. Tolkien struggled for years, constantly editing The Hobbit until a nudge from a former student gave him the push he needed. In this K12 Teaching Moment, learn why completing your projects matters and how a little encouragement can make all the difference.

What compelled the citizens of Salem to accuse others of witchcraft in 1692? 🤔🧙‍♀️ Find out what really happened during the Salem Witch Trials in this K12 Teaching Moment.

It’s alive! 🧑🔬🧪 Ever wondered how the first sci-fi novel came to be? Learn all about the origins of
“Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” in this K12 Teaching Moment!
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Stay Connected with us!
Enroll Today: K12.com
Facebook: facebook.com/StrideK12
Instagram: instagram.com/k12learn
Tik Tok: tiktok.com/@stridek12

🍳 Join Us for the 2024 K12 National Cook-Off Finals! 🍽️

📅 Date: August 14, 2024 ⏰ Time: 5pm ET

📍 Filming Location: Kitchen of Purpose, Arlington, VA

🔥 What’s Cooking? Budding chefs in grades 6–12 have battled it out in the virtual round, and now six talented finalists are ready to sizzle in the in-person cook-off! They’ll whip up mouthwatering dishes, vying for the $1,000 grand prize. 🏆
👨‍🍳 Meet the Finalists: Discover their winning recipes and get a taste of their culinary magic! https://enrichment.k12.com/cookoff/

👉 Competition Overview:
Round 1: Students submitted original recipes, showcasing creativity and skill.
Round 2: In-person cook-off in Arlington, VA, at the Kitchen of Purpose, judged by Chef David Ho from Food Network’s Chopped, Postre Chef Isabel Coss, and Chef Daniela Hurtado.

🎁 Prizes:
1st place: $1,000
2nd place: $500
3rd place: $350
Culinary Gift baskets for 4th, 5th, and 6th place

👩‍👧‍👦 Join the Culinary Excitement! Mark your calendar and prepare for a feast of flavors!
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Connect with K12!

Find a school: K12.com
Facebook: facebook.com/StrideK12
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TikTok: tiktok.com/@stridek12

Welcome to the 2024 K12 Robotics Competition!

This year, we invited students in grades 4–12 to join the K12 Robotics League. Students worked in teams of two or three, with guidance from their instructors, and participated in two virtual qualifying rounds. Teams competed against others in their grade bands (4–6, 7–9, and 10–12) and skill levels (intermediate and advanced).

Today, we celebrate the top teams from the qualifying rounds as they compete for the national championship! Congratulations to all the students participating today—you’ve demonstrated incredible creativity, problem-solving skills, and coding expertise. Be proud of your achievements and enjoy this exciting culmination of your hard work!

Let the bot battles begin!

Date: June 19th, 2024
Time: 8:30AM ET
Location: Live-streamed on Facebook + Youtube
Hosted by: K12
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http://www.k12.com. K12 is the leader in online learning for grades K through 12 for two fundamental reasons: we develop our own curriculum, widely regarded as the highest quality available online, and we are devoted to fulfilling the promise of education for every child.

Connect with K12!

Find a school: K12.com
Facebook: facebook.com/StrideK12
Instagram: instagram.com/k12learn
TikTok: tiktok.com/@stridek12

Witches, vampires, and werewolves, oh my. In this special Halloween episode of K12 Teaching Moments, uncover the origins of werewolves and why they’re among the supernatural creatures we know, fear, and love today.

Connect with K12!

Find a school: K12.com
Facebook: facebook.com/StrideK12
Instagram: instagram.com/k12learn
TikTok: tiktok.com/@stridek12

We are excited to have the finalists of our K12 Robotics Competition coming in-person to compete at the national level for the title of K12 National Robotics Champion!

Congratulations, Class of 2025! 🎓 🎉 We’re so happy to celebrate your milestone and share in your joy as we mark 25 years of online learning. We’re amazed at all you’ve done—from embracing innovation to discovering your passions and finding the courage to forge your own path.

We see the future of education in you. We thank you and your families for putting your trust in our vision of personalized learning for all students, everywhere. And we’re more inspired than ever to advance and improve education options for the next 25 years of graduates.

Celebrate with us and see our stories at https://bit.ly/4ddMIIM. #25YearsOfK12 #Graduation #2025Grad #ClassOf2025

Challenged with a hypothetical engineering work situation in which they need to figure out the volume and surface area of a nuclear power plant’s cooling tower (a hyperbolic shape), students learn to calculate the volume of complex solids that can be classified as solids of revolution or solids with known cross sections. These objects of complex shape defy standard procedures to compute volumes. Even calculus techniques depend on the ability to perform multiple measurements of the objects or find functional descriptions of their edges. During both guided and independent practice, students use (free GeoGebra) geometry software, a photograph of the object, a known dimension of it, a spreadsheet application and integral calculus techniques to calculate the volume of complex shape solids within a margin of error of less than 5%—an approach that can be used to compute the volumes of big or small objects. This activity is suitable for the end of the second semester of AP Calculus classes, serving as a major grade for the last six-week period, with students’ project results presentation grades used as the second semester final test.

View the full activity at TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/i

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit http://www.TeachEngineering.org for more!

Music: Inevitable - Diamond Ortiz

Students revisit the Pop Rockets activity from Lesson 3, in which mini paper rockets are powered by the chemical reaction of antacid-tablets and water in plastic film canisters. This time, however, the design of their pop rockets is limited by budgets and supplies. They get a feel for the constraints of real engineering projects as well as the opportunity to redesign and retest their rockets to make improvements. Rocket build instructions as well as activity-guiding budget/sketch and data worksheets are provided.

View the full activity on TeachEngineering: https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!

Music: Coffee Stains - Riot

Students learn about Pascal's law, an important concept behind the engineering of dam and lock systems, such as the one that Thirsty County wants Splash Engineering to design for the Birdseye River (an ongoing hypothetical engineering scenario). Students observe the behavior of water in plastic water bottles spilling through holes punctured at different heights, seeing the distance water spurts from the holes, learning how water at a given depth exerts equal pressure in all directions, and how water at increasing depths is under increasing pressure.

View the full lesson on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more

Students imagine they are stranded on an island and must create the brightest light possible with the meager supplies they have on hand in order to gain the attention of a rescue airplane. In small groups, students create circuits using items in their "survival kits" to create maximum voltage, measured with a multimeter and two LED lights. To complete the activity, students act as engineers by using the given materials to create circuits that produces the highest voltage and light up the most LED lights. They apply their knowledge of how voltage differs in a series circuit and a parallel circuit to design their solutions.

View the full activity at TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit http://www.TeachEngineering.org for more!

Music: Awaken - Anno Domini Beats

Students learn about one-axis rotations, and specifically how to rotate objects both physically and mentally to understand the concept. They practice drawing one-axis rotations through a group exercise using cube blocks to create shapes and then drawing those shapes from various x-, y- and z-axis rotation perspectives on triangle-dot paper (isometric paper). They learn the right-hand rule to explore rotations of objects. A worksheet is provided. This activity is part of a multi-activity series towards improving spatial visualization skills.

View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more

Music: Sky Scraper - Geographer

Students are introduced to Newton's third law of motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. They practice identifying action-reaction force pairs for a variety of real-world examples, and draw and explain simplified free-body diagram vectors (arrows) of force, velocity and acceleration for them. They also learn that engineers apply Newton's third law and an understanding of reaction forces when designing a wide range of creations, from rockets and aircraft to door knobs, rifles and medicine delivery systems. This lesson is the third in a series of three lessons intended to be taught prior to a culminating associated activity to complete the unit.

View the full lesson on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/lessons/view/ucd_

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more

Music: Awaken

Students develop their understanding of air convection currents and temperature inversions by constructing and observing simple models. Engineers study temperature inversions and convection currents to understand why pollution levels may be higher in some areas than in others. They use this information to reduce pollution levels and determine new pollution prevention programs. They also study convection currents inside buildings to help improve indoor air quality that may be poor due to smoking or fumes from cleaning supplies. Convection currents help to circulate these pollutants, sending them outside of the building.

View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit http://www.TeachEngineering.org for more!

Music: Daily Beetle- Kevin MacLeod

To understand how fossils are formed, students model the process of fossilization by making fossils using small toy figures and melted chocolate. They extend their knowledge to the many ways that engineers aid in the study of fossils, including the development of tools and technologies for determining the physical and chemical properties of fossilized organisms, and how those properties tell a story of our changing world.

View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!

Music: Straighty Baby- Audionautix

What are Newton's Laws of motion and how do they affect our daily lives? How do engineers use Newton's Laws to design the products around us? TeachEngineering explores these laws and how they have shaped the world we have today!

Music: It's All Happening - Huma Huma

Students learn about porosity and permeability and relate these concepts to groundwater flow. They use simple materials to conduct a porosity experiment and use the data to understand how environmental engineers decide on the placement and treatment of a drinking water well.
This engineering curriculum aligns to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more

Music: California Wind

From brainstorming ideas to testing prototypes, iterating through the design process helps engineers to develop more creative products and processes.

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!

Music: Italian Afternoon - Twin Musicom

You’re free to use this song in any of your videos, but you must include the following in your video description:
Italian Afternoon by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/

Using common materials (spools, string, soap), students learn how a pulley can be used to easily change the direction of a force, making the moving of large objects easier. They see the difference between fixed and movable pulleys, and the mechanical advantage gained with multiple/combined pulleys. They also learn the many ways engineers use pulleys for everyday purposes.

View the full activity at TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c

TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit http://www.TeachEngineering.org for more!

Music: How We Like It - Dan Lebowitz