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Activity
PBS

Predicting/Making a Hypothesis

For Teachers 6th - 12th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Getting to the Source

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Reliable news stories are based on facts from reliable sources. Young journalists learn how to evaluate the reliability of news sources by watching a short explainer video. Teams apply their new source-digging skills to a current news...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Recognizing Bias: Analyzing Context and Execution

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Young journalists learn how to identify bias in the news media.  First, they watch a video in which a Newseum expert identifies bias in a story about the 1919 Chicago race riots. They then use what they have learned to analyze a recent...
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Activity
News Literacy Project

Fact-Check It!

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Here's a lesson designed to help learners develop their digital verification skills. First, expert groups study specific digital verification skills, and in a jigsaw activity, share what they have learned with classmates. The jigsaw...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Is It News?

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Is it news or not? That is the question young journalists must consider in a lesson about newsworthiness. Class members watch a short video that details five key characteristics of quality, credible news. Individuals then use these tips...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Quick Skim or Deep Dive? Picking the Right Search Strategy

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
To search online to find answers to some questions requires only a quick skim, while others demand deep research. Scholars engage in a lesson plan that teaches them the difference and how to craft questions that produce the best online...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Search Boosters: How Content Creators Can Game the System

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Scholars examine the techniques content creators use to boost their search rankings. After watching a short "Search Boosters" video, groups select a story from the "News or Noise? Media Map" and analyze the devices used in the story. The...
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Lesson Plan
Anti-Defamation League

Why are Children’s and Young Adult Books Challenged and Banned?

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
September's "Banned Books Week" brings attention to the number of books that are challenged, censored, or banned each year. After watching a video about banned book week, reading articles about the history of book banning, and examining...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Mob Mentality and "The Outsiders": Integrating Fiction and Nonfiction

For Teachers 7th - 8th Standards
S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders allows middle schoolers to reflect on mob mentality. After reading an article and watching a video about herd mentality, class members find examples in the novel of when characters go along with the crowd and...
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Activity3:05
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Mr. Roughton

CSI: Florence

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Who done it? Class groups adopt the role of crime scene investigators and examine exhibits (primary source documents) to determine who attempted to assassinate the members of the Medici dynasty.
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Unit Plan
General Motors Corporation

Jazz

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Over the history of the world, music has been at the heart of some of the greatest social and political movements. Scholars discover their musical roots as they dive into the sounds and emotions of renowned jazz players. They see how...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Using Primary Sources: Wide Open Town

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A picture speaks a thousand words, no matter how old! Scholars use political cartoons from the era of Prohibition and the Temperance Movement to analyze what, a primary document (in this case, a bootlegger's notebook) is telling them...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

The Sixties: Hitsville USA

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
James Jamerson. You probably heard him but may not have heard of him. But fans of Motown Records will certainly recognize his contributions to the sound that desegregated popular music during the 1960s. Challenge young history detectives...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

How to Teach Your Students about Fake News

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What media literacy skills do people need to evaluate a news source? Scholars listen to and discuss an NPR story about how fake headlines often dupe young people and adults alike. Next, they study news stories, using a fact-checking...
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Activity
US Department of Education

A Close Reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

For Teachers 7th - 10th Standards
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address provides the text for a series of close reading exercises that model for instructors how carefully crafted guiding questions can help readers think critically about what they read, thus developing...
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Lesson Plan
Crafting Freedom

Creating Original Historical Fiction Using Henry "Box" Brown's Narrative and Runaway Slave Ads

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Young historians discover the experiences of runaway slaves after reading the brief biography and narrative excerpt of Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped away in a crate and popularized his flight in a...
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Lesson Plan
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Speak Truth to Power

John Lewis: Non-Violent Activism

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
After comparing and contrasting non-violent and violent social movements, your young historians will take a closer look at the work and influence of John Lewis on the civil rights movement. They will then choose a current social justice...
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Lesson Plan
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Channel Islands Film

Eminent Domain

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
After viewing the documentary The Last Roundup, a documentary about the transitioning of Santa Rosa from a privately own island to a National Park, class members debate the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment that permits the...
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Lesson Plan
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Channel Islands Film

Island Cattle Ranching

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Is cattle ranching on Santa Rosa island viable or non-viable? Rather than focusing on the issues of the transition of Santa Rosa island from a privately owned island cattle ranch to a national park, class members are asked to consider if...
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Lesson Plan
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution

Lesson 3: What Makes Attitudes Towards Education Change over Time?

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
The struggle for women's rights is not unique to this generation, or even to the 20th century. Class members explore the conflicting opinions of Alexander Graham Bell and his wife, Mabel Hubbard Bell, regarding women's pursuits of higher...
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Unit Plan
Newspaper Association of America

Using the Newspaper to Teach the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Of all the amendments found in The Bill of Rights, the First Amendment contains some of the most important freedoms for American citizens. A unit plan on the First Amendment features interactive lesson plans designed to teach about those...
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Interactive
Mr. Nussbaum

Battle of Fort Sumter

For Students 5th - 8th Standards
Fort Sumter, the site of the Civil War's first battle, taught the Union and the Confederacy an important lesson: they would both need to take stronger steps than anticipated if they wanted to win the war. History pupils read about the...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching Tolerance

Media Consumers and Creators, What Are Your Rights and Responsibilities?

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Teach the class to separate fact from fiction. Scholars explore the topic of fake news as they read PEN America's News Consumers' Bill of Rights and discuss the rights and responsibilities outlined in the bill. Next, they read an article...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching Tolerance

Social Media for Social Action

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Engage in activism, not slacktivism! Scholars discuss social media and the Internet as tools for social change. Next, they engage in a close reading strategy called Thinking Notes as they read an article about social media activism.

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