"It's alive!" Or is it? Scholars tackle the question of what it means to be human in a lesson plan that asks them to research the Turning Test and other devices that attempt to prove whether AI devices can pass as humans. After...

What is reality, knowledge, and the meaning of life? Discover Plato's response to these bold questions in his "Allegory of the Cave" and explore this famous historical thinker's vision of an ideal society as he saw it within the context...

Considering the evolution of democracy and civilization to this day, is there any reason to believe the Persians should have defeated the Greeks in the Persian War? Why could the legacy of Ancient Greece be considered "profoundly...

Salman Khan corrects an incorrect calculation from the previous video. It was wrong due to the fact that there was no actual year zero. He discusses how to correctly determine the year based on the common AD, BC, or BCE abbreviations.

Students read and discuss Socrates's "Crito" and examine the arguments he made supporting his own death penalty. They consider the still-relevant debate between the rights of the individual and the rule of law.

While your students are at their desks with a sheet of paper and pencil, you can project these PowerPoint quiz questions on the overhead screen. There are a total of eight slides and 15 short-answer questions about ancient Greece and...

An excerpt from Michel de Montaigne's essay "On Cruelty" provides advanced readers an opportunity to polish their close reading skills. Scholars read the passage twice and then respond to the provided questions.

A 20-page curriculum guide for Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince includes five lessons and related worksheets. For background, class members research and create travel brochures for Florence, Italy, in 1500. Next, they analyze...

Reclaim forgotten philosophers of the twentieth century. Feminist philosophers have shaped our current concepts of politics and gender, but they are seldom mentioned in the classroom. Change that omission with a lesson plan that includes...

Meet Simone de Beauvoir, teacher, writer, feminist. Perhaps best known as an existential philosopher, her views on what it means to be a woman upended the post World War II intellectual theatre.

Diogenes of Sinope was a cynic, the first of that line of philosophy, advocating for rejecting materialism, vanity, and conformity. While the meaning of the label cynic has changed over the centuries, the core ideas of rejecting custom...

Agriculture was more revolutionary than some might think. Using a primary source set—including photos of artifacts from Mesopotamia and an amusing comic—learners consider the impacts of the neolithic, agricultural, and green revolutions....

The Last Train Home, a 2009 documentary about China's migrant factory workers, provides viewers with an opportunity to explore how China's emergence as a global manufacturing force is challenging Chinese traditional values like filial...

Introduce young philosophers to the wisdom of China's most famous thinkers with a short bio. The reading comprehension passage includes an answer key.

Young historians consider the far-reaching effects of traditional teachings on the debates about the current attitudes toward women in society. The discussion begins with a list of New-Confucian sayings and expands to a global perspective.

Is Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince a directive to autocrats to rule by any means necessary, or a warning about the ways free citizens can be dominated by rulers? A short video suggests that Machiavelli's famous work might have been...

Just what did Ben Franklin read? By juxtaposing Ben Franklin’s reading material as a young man with an analysis of his developed ideas, learners gain the opportunity to see how the influences of his youthful reading played out. Roman,...

Philosophers ask some of life's biggest questions about the nature of mankind, existence, and time, so what's it like to study the subject? A handout outlines different types of philosophy assignments common in college-level courses. The...

How do we know what we know? Examine the asker of this, and many other questions, during the 14th installment in a 15-part History of Science video series. The narrator explains the important contributions made by Galileo, Bacon, and...

If the word alchemy makes you think of wizards gathered around bubbling cauldrons, you're not completely wrong! Introduce scholars to the history of chemistry during part 10 of a 15-part History of Science series. The video takes viewers...

Medieval Chinese scientists were the masters of invention! Explore the wonders of the Far East through the eighth installment in a 15-part History of Science series. The resource covers contributions to science and technology by dynasty,...

The Medieval Islamicate World was truly a world of wonders! Clocks with gears, armillary spheres ... and robots that played music? Journey to ancient Baghdad, the center of science and math with the seventh video in a History of Science...