From indentured servitude to involuntary race-based servitude, slavery has taken many forms in American history. Class members examine three manumission petitions that reveal how the rights of African Americans and African American...

As part of a study of the Civil Rights Movement from 1868 to the present, class members examine first person narratives, the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, and other significant events in civil rights history....

Is peace simply the absence of war, or is there more to the story? Young social scientists define peace in the second installment of a 15-part series. Groups work together to explore cultural concepts of peace and the peacemaking process...

When is civil disobedience acceptable? Class members read examples of Jim Crow laws, an excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," and a newspaper article and then consider the factors that make a law just or...

Need a teacher's guide all about Sam Houston and how he relates to the Texas Revolution? Look no further! The guide includes a timeline detailing Houston's life, important milestones, and relevant maps that include his movement around...

When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...

Ready to interpret the Declaration of Independence and understand its meaning? The resource divides scholars into pairs, where they work as a team to match translations with excerpts from the declaration. The class then engages in...

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...

Explore women's history through films and filmmaking. An innovative research project prompts class members to create their own screenplay about a figure in women's history. After outlining their characters, settings, and plots, young...

What basic rights are guaranteed to all Americans? Do citizens, legal aliens, illegal aliens, and minors all have the same rights? Should individuals all over the world enjoy the same rights? Class members read the Declaration of...

The Empress Myeongseong is the focus of a lesson plan that asks class members to examine a historical record and a first-hand account of one of Korea's most intrepid and controversial women.

Tired of 20-somethings portraying high school students? Tired of athletes and principals always being the villains? Class members examine the student and teacher stereotypes presented TV shows and films that are et in schools. 

A silk rank badge was a symbolic emblem worn by high officials during the Qing Dynasty. Your class will get a chance to examine the details, symbolism, color, and design of such a badge as they make their own symbolic trading cards....

What did abolitionists have in common with those working for women's rights? How has the Native American struggle for voting rights differed from the struggles of other groups? Class members examine the 15th, 19th, 23rd, 24th, and 26th...

Just as no man is an island, no country is totally independent of other countries. To understand the impact of individual consumer decisions on the global natural environment, class groups consider how the stuff they...

The importance of cultural awareness, of becoming aware of our own and other cultures, and the benefits of gaining a deeper understanding of the differences between cultures, is the focus of this resource. Working individually, in pairs,...

Could you live without your phone? What about cars, steel, or clothing? Class groups collaborate to produce presentations that argue that either the telephone, the gramophone, the automobile, the textile industry, or the steel...

In an age of fake news, alternative facts, and biased reporting, it is more important than ever that 21st century learners develop the critical-thinking skills necessary to recognize, analyze and resist the propaganda techniques used in...

If you've ever peeked inside a middle schooler's backpack, you know how valuable a lesson on organization can be. Help class members organize their binders, study habits, and schedules with a set of collaborative activities.

If the methodology is skewed, the results will be skewed. That's the takeaway from an exercise designed to get class members thinking about research methods and statistics gathering. Instructors manipulate the testing environment to...

Imagine living in the hold of a sailing ship for 63 days, enduring rough seas and autumn storms. As part of a study of the voyage of the Mayflower, class members examine an online resource that details life about the ship, watch a slide...

Eighth graders engage in a lesson that is concerned with the acquiring of skills necessary to make informed career choices. They examine the type of language that should be acquired for communication in the workplace. They also have...

How did the struggle for Civil Rights during the 1950s transform American society and politics? Why are American schools integrated today? Class members explore these essential questions by examining a series of primary and secondary...