Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
American Indians and their Environment
People could take a page in ingenuity and survival from the Powhatans. Deer skins became clothes, and the members of the Native American group farmed the rich Virginia soil and hunted in its forests for food. Using images of artifacts...
Curated OER
Building a Memorial to the Underground Railroad
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this Underground Railroad lesson, students examine the attributes and function of the Underground Railroad in order to...
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Making More Places at the Table
Fifth graders explore the use of primary and secondary source documents. They identify primary and secondary sources. Students investigate individuals that made a difference during the American Civil Rights Movement through the use of...
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How to incorporate local history into your Arkansas History class
Fifth graders explore their local history through research and then providing reenactments about the history.
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People and Places
Fifth graders investigate how the geography of the land effected the human experience of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They research using primary and secondary sources, design a map.
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Slavery In America During the Civil War
Students continue their examination of the Civil War. In groups, they use the internet and print sources to research the life of a slave. For each slave researched, they copy quotes and other information from primary and secondary...
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Creative Writing/Historical Journals
Students research primary and secondary sources to find information about their ancestors. They write a series of journal entries, from the perspective of one of their ancestors, on what life was like in that given time period.
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...
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Women's Suffrage: 140 Years of Struggle
Students create PowerPoint presentations about women's suffrage. In this women's rights instructional activity, students use primary documents to study the women's suffrage movement. In pairs, students create a PowerPoint presentation...
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Stories of the Wrights' Flight
Students examine and compare primary and secondary source accounts of the Wright brothers' first flights on December 17, 1903.
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Interpreting Political Cartoons in the History Classroom
Students analyze political cartoons. In this historical perspectives lesson, students use the provided cartoon analysis worksheet to examine the political cartoons that their instructor shares with them.
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Surviving the Winter
Fifth graders investigate given cultures using the internet, personal interviews and other sources, They examine how the civilizations of six Native American tribes and six Australian Aboriginal tribes survived during their respective...
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National Road to Indiana
Students explore the National Road to Indiana. In this U.S. highway history and primary source research lesson, students read an original journal written by Jane Voorhees Lewis in 1806 describing her trip west on the first federally...
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President Jackson, the Cherokee and Indian Removal
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this Indian Removal Act lesson, students examine the act and discuss the implications of moving the Cherokee. Students...
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Childhood in Early 19th-Century America
Students interpret and analyze primary source documents and compare and contrast childhood today with that of the past.
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The Gold Rush Experience: Create Your Own Exhibit
Students create a virtual exhibit. In this gold rush instructional activity, students watch a movie about the California gold rush, view a virtual image of the gold nugget that started the gold rush and examine the sources. Students...
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African Americans Seen Through the Eyes of the Newsreel Cameraman
Fifth graders become familiar with the role of African Americans during WWII. For this WWII lesson, 5th graders watch a newsreel and discuss its use as a primary source. Students answer questions about the newsreel.
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Choices and Commitments: The Soldiers at Gettysburg
Students investigate the Gettysburg Campaign and the major actions for each day of the battle. They read primary source documents, write a diary entry, analyze the Gettysburg Address, and write a persuasive speech regarding an issue in...
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What price Freedom! Civil War and Reconstruction
Fifth graders become familiar with the events of Reconstruction and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this reconstruction lesson, 5th graders work in pairs where each student creates a building with blocks and draws it. Their...
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Take a Memo - Primary Documents: African American Soldiers on the Homefront
Students examine the discrimination experienced by black servicemen during World War II. They read and analyze an official memo written in 1943, complete worksheet questions, and participate in a class discussion.
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Revolutionary War Spy Methods
Students research how coded messages were used during the Revolutionary War. In this Revolutionary War activity, students view primary documents about the Revolutionary War spies and the methods used for sending messages. Students write...
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Diversity of Colors
Students investigate color diversity by experimenting with jelly beans. In this color spectrum lesson plan, students observe colored jelly beans through different filters and light sources to change the existing look of the bean....
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Why Not Come to North Amercia?
Students examine the motives for French expansion into the New World, they evaluate primary source documents to determine who, what, when, where and why.
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Life in a One-Room Arkansas Schoolhouse
Students read primary source documents to examine what a typical school day was like in the early 1900s. They discover how African-American children were taught differently than whites. They compare and contrast past school days to...