Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

How Do We Remember and Honor the Contributions of Women in Public Space?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Public art, especially monuments and memorials, are designed to celebrate and honor those who have made significant contributions to a community or even an entire nation. Here's a lesson plan that asks scholars to consider who is...
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Shirley Chisholm, Unbossed and Unbought

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
An engaging resource introduces young historians to Shirley Chisholm, the woman, the Black congresswoman, the activist, and the candidate for President in 1972. Class members study primary sources, watch a video of her announcing her run...
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

Women and the Manhattan Project

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
The Manhattan Project was a massive undertaking involving multiple sites and thousands of scientists and technicians. To gain an understanding of the women who participated in the project, groups select an oral history of a woman...
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

Historical Detective: Edward Alexander Bouchet and the Washington-Du Bois Debate over African-American Education

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Young scientists meet Edward Alexander Bouchet who, in 1876, was the first African American to receive a PhD in Physics. This two-part lesson first looks at the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois about the type of...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Making History” by Marilyn Nelson

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
What makes an event newsworthy, worth a reference in a news magazine or textbook? Who decides? These are questions Marilyn Nelson asks readers of her poem "Making History" to consider. To begin, class members list details they notice in...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

LBJ and Voting Rights

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Challenges to voting rights is not a new thing. Using President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 "The American Promise" speech on voting rights as a starting point, young historians research current voting rights laws and challenges.
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Bias Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (evidence, source, context, audience, purpose, and execution) strategy to evaluate historical and contemporary examples of bias in the news. The class then uses the provided discussion questions to...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

The Press and the Presidency: Friend or Foe? How the President Is Portrayed

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
In theory, news reports should be fair and unbiased. Young journalists test this theory by selecting a current news story covered by various media outlets about the President of the United States. They then locate and analyze five...
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

African American Inventors in History

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A two-part lesson introduces young historians to the work of famous African American inventors. Groups first research and develop a presentation of an inventor that includes biographical information and information about one of their...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Compare State Voting Laws Today with Laws of the Jim Crow Era

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Georgia's law S.B. 202 is at the center of a lesson that asks young scholars to examine what critics say are Georgia's attempts to limit voting access to Black voters. Groups then investigate the voting laws in their own state, as well...
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Pearl Harbor Activity #6: December 7 and September 11 - Infamy Twins?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Why did attackers on December 7, 1941, and on September 11, 2001, choose the targets they did? That is one of several questions young historians try to answer as they compare and contrast the two attacks. They also consider the...
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Pearl Harbor Activity #4: Who is the Audience?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Photo Ethics: News Independence

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists read a case study about an annual school tradition of a streaker running across the football field after the homecoming game. Small groups then decide whether or not to cover the story and whether or not to include a...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Is This Story Share-Worthy?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Battle for the Bill of Rights: Ultimate Survivor Amendment Game

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
To understand the importance of the wording of the articles of the First Amendment (freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the press, and freedom to assembly and petition), teams argue before a jury for draft amendments of one...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Am I Being Fair?

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed Standards
Young journalists use four strategies from an "Am I Being Fair?" tip sheet to check for and counter personal biases about a topic. Scholars apply the strategies to an article about the best pizza as guided practice. Participants then...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Weighing the Arguments

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
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...
Lesson Plan
British Council

Online Safety for Teenagers

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Safety in a cyber world is complex but important. Scholars review ways to stay safe online by first writing words given by the teacher. Learners analyze the words to guess the topic of the lesson plan. They then read an online safety...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Propaganda Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Working in teams, pairs, or individually, scholars select one resource from a gallery of historical sources and consider which examples might be considered propaganda, the techniques used to persuade audiences, and evaluate how the...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

When Tragedy Hits — Role-Playing a Breaking News Story

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed
Young journalists engage in a role-playing exercise that asks them to consider the journalism and ethical issues raised by the coverage of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. Pupils play the role of either a reporter...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

'The Press and the Civil Rights Movement' Video Lesson

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Scholars watch a video featuring journalists who covered the civil rights movement, then respond to questions on a viewing guide. The video features interviews with participants and original news footage from the 1950s and 1960s. In...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Disinformation Nation: Separating Politics and Propaganda

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Separating political rhetoric from propaganda is no small feat. Class members are challenged to examine two different sources about a candidate in an upcoming election and determine whether the primary purpose of the source is to inform...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

Civil Rights News Coverage: Looking Back at Bias

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Not all southern newspapers covered the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Young journalists investigate how The Lexington (Ky. Herald-Leader and The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun re-examined their coverage of the movement. After...
Lesson Plan
Newseum

You Can’t Say That: In My Opinion

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed Standards
As a part of a study of the First Amendment, high schoolers research a current news story that seems to involve one of the freedoms granted by the First Amendment. Investigators decide whether they think the action presented in the story...