With throngs of Americans out of work and hungry, Franklin D. Roosevelt made the bold move to establish a social safety net with programs such as Social Security. The move was—and still is—controversial. Using documents from the 1930s,...

What is freedom? The United States grappled with the question at the end of the Civil War after four million enslaved people were freed. Using circulars and images from the Reconstruction period, individuals examine how successful the...

The stories of enslaved people are preserved forever thanks to the Great Depression. Budding historians explore slave narratives gathered by a federal government initiative to discover what life was actually like for enslaved people....

Whose land is it, anyway? Young scholars debate the question using primary sources from a case where Maryland indigenous people petitioned for land rights after they lost their original tribal lands. An included chart helps organize...

The United States needed an executive power, but it wanted to avoid a monarchy. Using James Madison's notes on the Constitutional Convention, young historians look at the juggling act the Founding Fathers did to create a role for the...

While the Constitution is considered enshrined today, its current form is the result of haggling at a secret convention in 1787. Using transcripts from the meetings and various plans as drafted by the delegates, class members unpack the...

Drawn by promises of fertile land, thousands of settlers poured West because of the Homestead Act of 1862. By examining images of the ads that drew them westward, learners consider the motivations for movement. They also consider how the...

What was it like to be a part of the sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement? Learners consider the question and whether the protests were effective using an online documents-based investigation. The program allows for virtual...

What is the sharecropping system? What role did it play in the post-Civil War economy of the South? Who were the sharecroppers? Who employed them? How were they paid? To answer these questions, kids examine a series of sharecropper...

After reading The Other Side and guiding children through a picture walk, third graders investigate evidence of the civil rights movement. In the mini unit, 3rd graders analyze photographs of the past and make connections...

What happened on the fifth of November that has prompted an annual, national commemoration in Great Britain? Young historians look at a traditional English rhyme and folk tale from the seventeenth century that...

The year is 1891, and the document is an excerpt from a letter written to Hasan Shirazi. The class reads and analyzes the excerpt by completing three document-based questions. Islam, the Persian Empire, and British colonialism will all...

Students explore the Korean War through photography. In this Korean War lesson, students examine photographs taken by a soldier and respond to question about them.

Use the dystopian novel After by Francine Prose to spark discussion about individual and student rights. Learners read the novel, evaluating how far a school can go to control its attendees. As they read, scholars...

Students examine the role of Peace Corps volunteers. In this service instructional activity, students investigate service projects that feature agriculture, small business, education, environmental education, and health concerns in the...

Great Britain was where the industrial revolution began. The class reads an excerpt from a document written in 1835 describing cotton manufacture in Great Britain. They then answer two critical analysis questions. 

Students examine copies of primary source documents and determine the document's value to a researcher. They analyze and evaluate the document for bias or contradiction. They know the difference between a primary and secondary source.

Pollution has been an issue since the advent of stratified society. Learners will read this excerpt from Hugh Miller's The Old Red Sandstone (1841) then answer two document-analysis questions. 

Document-based questions are a great way to increase understanding of a primary source document or prepare learners for a class discussion. Here, they'll read an excerpt from Alexis de Tocqueville's speech regarding the revolution of...

Answering document-based questions is a great way to build reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. Learners read an excerpt from Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton, then answer two related questions. 

Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and...

A study of an image from The Library of Congress collection Civil War Photographs 1861-1865 launches an investigation of the connection between the Civil War and American industrialization. After analyzing “Petersburg, Va. The...

High schoolers write about the impact of the Underground Railroad. They examine primary documents as they conduct independent research to explore the role of the Underground Railroad during the fight for abolition. They...

Class members participate in a series of hands on, online, and multimedia activities to identify the difference between primary and secondary sources. They watch a related video and visit a variety of sites to locate primary and...