Artifacts Teacher Resources
Find Artifacts lesson plans and worksheets
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US House of Representatives
Black Americans in Congress
Seven lessons make up a unit about African Americans who served in the United States Congress from 1870 to 2007. Young historians read contextual essays, engage in activities, examine primary source images, and artifacts to gain an...
Lesson Planet Curated
Family History: Activity Pack
Young history detectives investigate their family history through interviews, genealogical research, and family artifacts and heirlooms. They research family members who stood up for their beliefs, examine family treasures to discover...
Lesson Planet Curated
Civil War: Activity Pack
The three lessons in the Civil War: Activity Pack collection provide young history detectives with an opportunity to examine artifacts the reveal African-American involvement in the United States Civil War. They watch videos to learn...
Lesson Planet Curated
Women's History: Activity Pack
A three-lesson unit from PBS’s History Detective series has young historians investigating women's contributions to American history. Young sleuths search for clues in artifacts, images, and videos. They hold a mock convention, create...
Lesson Planet Curated
Women in Congress
Designed to be used in conjunction with the Women in Congress publication, seven lesson plans look at the women pioneers who served in congress from 1917 to 2006. The collection includes essays, photographs, artifacts, and quotations.
Lesson Planet Curated
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War Printable Exhibition
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War is a collection of 13 resources from a printable exhibition curated by the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Each resource begins with a summary and a table of contents. The resources...
Lesson Planet Curated
Angel Island Immigrant Journeys
Young historians study the Angel Island Immigration Station with activities examining primary and secondary source materials, maps, and websites. The unit begins with individuals creating a map of Angel Island, labeling sites on the...
Lesson Planet Curated
California Mission Lessons
The California missions were established by the Franciscans with the hope of converting Native Americans to Catholicism. The three lessons in this collection present fourth graders with primary source documents, paintings, and drawings...
Lesson Planet Curated
My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States
Is it possible to combine many voices into one national identity? That is the question addressed by the unit module “My Part of the Story: Exploring Identity in the United States.” The unit consists of six lessons that ask high schoolers...
Teaching Tolerance
Identity Artifacts Museum
Who are you? It's a simple question, but younger learners have the opportunity to express their complex identities by making artifacts that represent parts of their identities. After engaging in the activity, they share who they are with...
University of Chicago
Using Artifacts for Clues About Identity
Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...
Annenberg Foundation
Analyzing Artifacts
If only a mask could talk! Using the interactive tool along with historical thinking skills, pupils uncover the meaning behind the various materials the resource presents. History becomes more relevant as the artifacts tell their stories...
Museum of Tolerance
Artifact Research Activity
Artifacts give us the privilege of learning about the past, may it be family, culture, or traditions. Here, class members learn about their family's past with the help of an artifact, or family heirloom. Once an artifact is...
Chicago History Museum
Reading Artifacts
History detectives put their keen observation skills to the test as they closely examine artifacts. Drawing on visual and tactile clues, they formulate a theory about who done it, or in this case who made it, why, and for what...
Curated OER
Primary Sources and Personal Artifacts
Connect historical text to primary sources. Researchers observe and discuss primary sources. Then, historians bring in their own personal artifacts and connect them back to their history.
Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts
Students complete research to enhance their reading of "The Grapes of Wrath". Using the text, they identify and locate cultural artifacts and discuss their symbolic connotations. As a class, they create a museum exhibit of the various...
Curated OER
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
Curated OER
Artifacts 1: What Can We Learn From Artifacts?
Sixth graders are introduced to artifacts and explore an online archaeological site to connect clues about how people once lived. In this deductive reasoning activity, 6th graders participate in the stratigraphy game on Kids Dig...
Curated OER
Artifacts 2: Artifacts in Context
Learners explore world history by completing artifact worksheets. For this archaeology lesson, students identify the importance of finding clues when researching historical information by utilizing artifacts. Learners research the...
Curated OER
What Can We Learn from Artifacts?
Students examine how artifacts are discovered and explore their significance as it pertains to gathering important information. In this artifacts lesson, students obtain knowledge about the way artifacts are excavated and examine an...
Curated OER
What Artifacts Reveal About The Past
Middle schoolers take a closer look at artifacts to learn about the people who used them. In this colonial America lesson, students examine photographs of everyday items used in colonial times and determine what the uses of the...
Curated OER
Creating Historians Part Two: The Grab Bag
You don't need to be a museum curator to bring artifacts into the classroom; part two of a series on approaching social studies as a group of historians.
Curated OER
This Old Ship
Junior archaeologists will be able to describe shipwreck artifacts and the information they reveal. They work in small groups to reasearch wreckage features of different period ships, making this not only a science lesson, but a social...
Curated OER
Arti-Factual Evidence
Practice responding to controversial information with the New York Times lesson provided here. Middle schoolers watch a video interview with the director of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. After reading a companion article, they identify...
