Annenberg Foundation
Revolutionary Perspectives
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Learners go to the heart of the causes of the American Revolution. Examining political cartoons, Enlightenment documents, and firsthand accounts, they present their ideas and reflective...
PBS
Using Primary Sources: Wide Open Town
A picture speaks a thousand words, no matter how old! Scholars use political cartoons from the era of Prohibition and the Temperance Movement to analyze what, a primary document (in this case, a bootlegger's notebook) is telling them...
Council for Economic Education
Christopher Columbus, Entrepreneur? Queen Isabella, Venture Capitalist?
What did it take to embark on a journey to unknown lands? Perhaps ambition, but also money! Christopher Columbus had to approach more than one European monarch for financing before he could sail the ocean blue. A read-along play and...
Council for Economic Education
Why Didn't China Discover the New World?
Who was Zheng He and why haven't we heard of him? Scholars consider the question as they compare his vast expeditionary force to that of Christopher Columbus. Young historians then ponder the intersection of science, economics, and...
Council for Economic Education
Business in the Middle Ages: Working in a Guild
Long before modern labor unions, guilds worked to ensure that workers had a fair wage. But, in medieval Europe, they also cooperated with the government. Using a simulation and primary source analysis, young scholars become hatters in...
Council for Economic Education
Wages and the Black Death
While the Black Death wiped out a third of Europe's population during the Middle Ages, its destruction paved the way for better wages for workers and even an early form of modern capitalism. The relationship between the cataclysmic...
Council for Economic Education
Athens and Sparta-Imagine the Possibilities
Both Athens and Sparta made choices to survive in ancient Greece. Those choices were, in essence, economic ones about how to direct resources. A Venn diagram activity and reading ask class members to examine the connection between...
Council for Economic Education
Entrepreneurs in Mesopotamia
While ancient Mesopotamia didn't have the TV show "Shark Tank," it was a time of entrepreneurship as workers began to specialize. Both individual workers and the societal structure encouraged individuals to consider how they could...
Council for Economic Education
Great Civilizations Develop around Rivers
If you lived in prehistoric times, what kinds of choices could your family make to increase their chance of survival? By making similar decisions in a simulation game, participants discover how specialization creates both opportunity and...
Chandler Unified School District
Frankly Speaking: Exploring Benjamin Franklin's Aphorisms
Benjamin Franklin famously had an aphorism for every situation—most of which we still use in modern vernacular. Introduce class members to Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack with a presentation that details the characteristics of aphorisms.
PBS
The Last Generation: Climate Change and the Marshall Islands
Are some families down to their last generation? The final segment of a two-part climate change series investigates the vanishing Marshall Islands. Scholars divide into research teams to analyze three different individuals whose lives...
PBS
The Last Generation
How does climate impact the town, city, or area where people live? Scholars research the concept of climate change as it pertains to the Marshall Islands. The opening lesson of a two-part series uses interactive online resources and...
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
Ratification of the Constitution
How difficult was it to get everyone to agree on the contents of the Constitution? Historians analyze the task of the Founding Fathers in creating the United States Constitution. They research a directory of video clips, primary sources,...
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
Bill of Rights
Do citizens need protection from the federal government? Scholars investigate why the framers of the Constitution created the first 10 amendments and what these amendments mean to citizens of the United States more than 200 years later....
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
Federalist - Antifederalist Debates
Who should have the power—individual states or the federal government? Scholars research the arguments of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists during the formation of the United States Constitution. Online resources, including a vast...
Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
The Constitutional Convention
Imagine sitting down with representatives of your school to write a new student handbook. What arguments would ensue? How would compromises be made to finish the project? Scholars research the Constitutional Convention using a directory...
University of Minnesota
Making an Immigrant Story
Budding historians research the trip immigrants to the United States take and the reasons behind their willingness to start over in a new place. Groups create their own video lessons outlining the story of human migration from departure...
State Bar of Texas
Marbury v. Madison
Who has the final say in matters dealing with the rules under the United States Constitution? The case Marbury v. Madison brings to light the issue of judicial review. Learners investigate the Supreme Court's opinion in the case with a...
State Bar of Texas
Gibbons v. Ogden
Have you ever played the game Monopoly? Do you know what it takes to win the game correctly? Scholars research the nature of outlawing monopolies in the United States while controlling trade. They investigate the court case Gibbons v....
Oklahoma Bar Association
Into Which Caste Have You Been Cast?: India's Caste System
What was it like to fit into a certain class with no choice in the matter? Learners experience the caste system in a role-play activity, work individually on handouts to enhance their learning, and participate in an evaluation activity...
Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning
CSI: The Experience - Family Forensics
Forensic scientists depend on their observation skills to analyze evidence down to the molecular level. Middle and high schoolers practice making observations and predictions with a series of crime scene activities, which includes a...
Law Focused Education
Federalist — Anti-Federalist
Deciding how to rule a nation is no easy task. Scholars use an online quiz to test their knowledge of Federalist and Anti-Federalist positions, ideas on the Articles of Confederation, and finish with questions on the United States...
Reading Through History
The Cold War: The Space Race
What do the Cold War and the Space Race have in common? Learners search for that answer and many more, helping them to build their knowledge of historical global politics and tensions between nations. Following the reading, they answer...
Reading Through History
Ain't I a Woman?
Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech has reverberated through American history, giving voice to women of color who had not previously been heard. Learners analyze the tone, audience, purpose, occasion, and speaker of the speech’s...