What role does trust play in diffusing a tense situation? Young social scientists explore trust on a personal and global level during a lesson on peace and conflict. After participating in a trust sit, participants work in groups to...

How would you spend your last days with a loved one? The movie guide for The Fault in Our Stars prompts scholars to compare important scenes from the novel to the film and contains background information about the author, guided...

After brainstorming the various aspects of cultural identity, class members interview each other, examine video clips, and read stories to discover how these aspects reveal one's cultural identity. Individuals then craft a quilt square...

Fifth graders create a class Powerpoint presentation of historical figures. They each research six names for their assigned alphabet letter and include a thumbnail sketch for the persons. Students present the finished project to other...

Although designed for the Canadian War Museum, the concept here is a solid one. Class members select an artifact from the First World War, examine it, research it, and craft an explanative label that they attach to their picture and post...

How do all the lessons and activities you have planned for your class align to Common Core State Standards? This can feel like a very daunting question. Help ease the process by referencing a template that not only lists and...

Young scholars demonstrate their knowledge of geography with this fun, collaborative social studies project. Working in small groups, students develop their very own countries, writing descriptions...

The American dream is to climb the social and economic ladder, but is it really possible? Using an online opportunity atlas, class members explore income and social mobility throughout the country. Discussion prompts allow learners to...

Using the Bristol Bus Boycott as a case study, class members examine the strategies and levels of power protesters used to effect change. The two-day lesson concludes with individuals reflecting on the actions they might take in face of...

A lesson challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws leads the...

The final lessons in this section of the Standing Up for Democracy unit ask class members to consider ways they can help create a "more humane, fair, and compassionate environment" in their communities. For context, learners study how...

Give learners a crash course in balancing the books on the United States federal government level with an economics and government resource. Class members engage in a warm-up discussion and brainstorming session before answering...

Assist your secondary special education class for understanding risky behavior, hygiene, and STDs. The class discusses how germs spread, how people get sick, and what needs to be done to prevent the spread of communicable diseases. They...

Discuss as a class some problems that you would like to see changed in your school or community, and then take action! After your young citizens determine the appropriate steps they should take to accomplish their objectives, they will...

Dim the lights, take a deep breath, and press play to explore the emotions and memories that music elicits. Class members begin using relaxation techniques designed to create a positive listening experience. As music plays, learners...

The Women's Rights movement is the focus of an engaging and collaborative exercise, in which young historians use information found in textbooks, class notes, and the provided documents to craft a DBQ essay.

The Pilgrims first arrived in America in order to gain religious freedom. Here is a lesson that takes the class on this journey with the Pilgrims, stopping to look at how they got here, who they met when they arrived, and a peek into...

To increase awareness and launch a discussion of consumerism, class members view What Would It Look Like, a 25 minute film of images that capture the global effects of the consumption of goods. Viewers make a list of the images that...

What educational opportunities were available to women during the colonial era in American history? How did the opportunities available to women differ from those for men? To answer this question, class members examine a series of...

Honor women in journalism with an online exhibit called Women with a Deadline. Class members demonstrate their understanding of the topic in a final assessment by writing a newspaper article on the information they learned in...

Class members have an opportunity to consider issues faced by refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by participating in a series of activities that illustrate some of the challenges refugees experience. 

Being a bystander can often cause as much harm as a bully causes. Junior high class members learn more about their role in a bullying situation with a presentation that defines the types of bullying, lists ways to deescalate a...

A role-playing scenario has middle-schoolers imagining that they are refugees forced to flee their community and integrate into a new one. Then, some play the roles of members of the new community and the class brainstorms ideas about...

A study of the history of the Channel Islands, located off the coast of southern California, continues as class members conduct a mock trial to determine which group of stakeholders should have the right to claim the remains of Juan...