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
What Can We Learn From the Past?
What would future archeologists learn from your scholars' personal belongings? Have them bring in a box of "primary sources" from their home. Discuss the difference between observations and inference, using some of your own items to...
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 the...
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...
US House of Representatives
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
New ReviewGroups select a photograph from one of the four eras of African Americans in Congress and develop a five-minute presentation that provides background information about the image as well as its historical significance. The class compares...
Facing History and Ourselves
Frame a Special Item
If you could frame something important to you, what would it be, where would you hang it, and why would you choose this particular thing to frame? These questions launch a lesson designed to help class members get to know each other....
Penguin Books
Educator's Guide: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is filled with secrets. Help readers find the clues, solve the riddles and puzzles, and unwrap the mysteries with a six-page guide that includes before, during, and after reading discussion questions and...
Facing History and Ourselves
Connecting to the Past
Young historians research the connections between their personal histories and the histories of our country to gain a deeper understanding of who they are. To begin, class members write about an object that they consider significant to...
Newseum
Give Women the Vote? Analyzing Suffrage Propaganda
Propaganda is often used to shape public opinion. Scholars investigate the persuasive techniques used by the pro- and anti-suffrage movements. Groups compare how these devices were used during the suffrage movement with how the same...
University of California
Bread and Circuses: Rome as a Site of Encounter
An intriguing lesson uses 12 Roman artifacts to explain Roman society and politics. Young historians view images of artifacts and learn how each one represents an aspect of Roman society. Academics also complete a hands-on activity to...
Newseum
Weighing the Arguments
To understand how personal perspectives can affect policy and politics, scholars examine the woman suffrage media map and historical artifacts to analyze arguments for and against women's suffrage. Class members then take on the role of...
Digital Public Library of America
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the focus of a teaching guide that introduces readers to some of the many controversies surrounding the use of the novel in classrooms. The packet includes 15 primary source excerpts and...
Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation
How Do Pictures Tell the Story of Angel Island?
Young historians learn more about the history of Angel Island Immigration Station through their analysis of primary source images. Guided by a list of inferential questions, scholars learn how to make and record observations on a...
Museum of the American Revolution
Object Observation: Purpose on a Powder Horn?
Young archeologists discover the significance of ordinary objects from the past in an interesting lesson on artifact analysis. The activity focuses on examining the image of a powder horn from the Revolutionary War to understand what it...
Museum of the American Revolution
Pop-Up Museum
Museums offer more than interesting exhibits—they are key to keeping history alive. An immersive activity uses a virtual field trip to show academics the importance of museums in preserving history. Young historians learn how museums are...
Museum of the American Revolution
Historical Analysis: Objects Tell Stories
Dig this! Young archeologists discover what objects teach us about the past. The activity uses an image of a Revolutionary War artifact to help historians practice analyzing the past. Scholars study the object and complete a worksheet to...
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...
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
As an introduction to the hypothesis and testing method of investigation, young history detectives engage in a special investigation of a family artifact. After watching a short video that demonstrates the method, they develop a...
PBS
Testing The Hypothesis
After choosing one experiment from the four they conducted in the previous lesson, young investigators analyze the evidence they collected to determine if it proves or disproves their original hypothesis.
PBS
Document This
Being a historian requires serious sleuthing. They examine primary source documents and look for evidence, for clues that reveal who wrote the document, when, and why. After watching two historians model the process, young history...
American Museum of Natural History
Make Your Own Mythic Mask or Puppet
No need to wait until Halloween to create a mask. Young anthropologists get involved in the centuries-old tradition of mask and puppet making with the help of an engaging resource that shows them how to craft their own masks or puppets.
American Museum of Natural History
Mint Your Own Coin
Provide young archaeologists with an opportunity to craft their own artifacts. The step-by-step directions in an engaging resource show them how to mint their own coin, complete with image, date, and motto.
American Museum of Natural History
What's This?: Early Humans
Early humans crafted shelters out of whatever materials they could find. A one-question quiz asks learners to identify the type of bones used to construct the hut pictured in a display.
American Museum of Natural History
Piecing It All Together
Archaeology digs are much like giant jigsaw puzzles. The artifacts found are often in pieces and scientists must reconstruct them. A hands-on activity lets young archaeologists experience this facet of the job as they create, smash, and...