Cultural History Teacher Resources

Small groups learn about a present-day nomadic culture in Mongolia and the threats to its existence by exploring a photo essay. The resource includes thoughtful discussion and writing prompts about cultural sustainability, the...

How has culture shaped you? Middle and high schoolers examine different aspects of one's culture, including religious beliefs, social customs, and family traditions, and discuss the ways that their personalities have been formed by these...

Using video clips of young adults from around the world describing their cultures and how they can be misunderstood, learners compare their own cultural point of view to that of others through discussion and writing.

Growing up within a culture leaves a lot of ideas and values unspoken. Take a closer look at the cultures in which your learners live with a discussion activity that addresses cultural identity and traits of those living within the...

Explore San Francisco's Chinatown in a lesson about the first few chapters of The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. Kids research Chinatown on the Internet and create a virtual tour of the neighborhood, including the foods, cultural events, and...

A game, research, and cross-cultural comparisons are in the works as you open an artistic lesson. Upper graders get analytical as they make observations that will help them create a link between abstract and creative thinking. They...

Is there any such thing as a culture without some degree of hybridization? Homi K. Bhabha maintains that all cultures, particularly post-colonial, experience cultural hybridity that reflect in an individual's personal identity. Learn...

Tenth graders analyze works from the period of the Industrial Revolution in England and identify the cultural values depicted and inferred that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution to occur at this time. They create captions that...

Make your class musically and culturally literate. They'll listen to and discuss three types of music styles indicative of three different cultures. They'll identify characteristics and instruments used in western, traditional, and...

Explore the melting pot in your own classroom with a lesson that focuses on cultural beliefs, traditions, and traits. Middle and high schoolers examine the details of their own identified cultures before sharing them with peers, and...

What influences the way you dress, or celebrate holidays, or connect with your friends? Explore the cultural traits that are not easily seen with an engaging discussion. Using the model of an iceberg, learners place features of culture...

Upper graders view a series of films that depict rituals or celebrations as they occur in different cultural settings. They conduct a cultural investigation about one culture, brainstorm and research objects that have cultural or...

Explore the cultural heritage through of your class through reading, writing, and speaking exercises. They create illustrated mini-books that express their unique cultural and personal experiences. They share their stores with the class...

In this fact and opinion activity, students sharpen their reading skills as they read a 1 page article titled "Culture Control" and identify the facts and opinions in the piece. Students list 2 facts and 2 opinions about an issue that...

Study the culture, language, and history of Mexico in this collection of lessons. Create maps of Mexico's geography, study Spanish language phrases, and create a fiesta, along with a Mexican Marketplace scene.

Students explore ancient tradition and craft of mask making, examine role or function of masks in African culture, create instruments, and participate in class projects.

Kindergarteners practice showing 1:1 correspondence while incorporating information they learned about a local Native American culture. The objects used for counting are taken from the previous day's Native American lesson. The intention...

Students explore the concept of cultural globalization. In this global issues lesson plan, students read and discuss the linked Web articles about world cultural issues and the dominance of the American market. 

Take out a map, a paper, a ruler, and those coveted colored pencils for a lesson plan on Chinese culture and geography. This is a multifaceted approach to basic geography skills that incorporate story telling, class discussion, primary...

Here are three lessons that work together to engage learners in a cultural and musical exploration. In lesson one the listen to the Mexican folk song, "La Raspa" and discuss cultural context. In lesson two they dance along to both "La...

Folktales reveal volumes about a culture, so get your literary analysts perusing them for anthropological clues! Learners examine characteristics of a folktale before researching one particular culture to better understand their...

In what ways do immigrant cultures influence American culture? Young historians explore cultural diffusion and diversity in the United States, and interview peers to discuss shared and unique cultural experiences.

Have your middle schoolers consider the effects of monsoons, the Himalayas, and geographical location on the development of Indian culture. This presentation provides a slight glimpse into this vast topic and could be used as a...

Students consider cultural differences. In this Peace Corps instructional activity, students read "Help, My Father is Coming," by Jim Toner and then write journal entries about the culture of Sri Lanka.