Curated OER
It's All Greek to Me!
While the ideas for Ancient Greek research are solid, there is little detail to help make your job easier. The focus here is familiarizing your class with online databases and print resources in their school library. After direct...
Curated OER
Hidden Messages: The Growth of Product Placement
Students identify product placements they see in TV programs and movies. They build awareness of the pervasiveness of advertising in their culture. They develop critical skills necessary to think independently in a media saturated...
Curated OER
911 As History
Students recognize persuasive techniques, think criticaly about the messages contained in various media, and discuss controversial issues in constructive ways. They analyze the deeper messages contained in children's literature, and...
Curated OER
Power, Persuasion & Propaganda: Exploring Multiple Motives
Students recognize different motives even in non-commercial media. They analyze the role of media in a democratic society and wrestle with ethical issues concerning media and the public good. They create a media message with one or more...
US Holocaust Museum
Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936
The Olympics are about more than sports—at times, the games are also a place of racism and prejudice! Pupils investigate the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. They analyze the meaning behind the materials included in the United States...
Curated OER
Scientific Detectives
Students examine the legitimacy of advertisers' claims about products using science and critical thinking. They view and discuss ads, read a case study, and conduct an experiment to demonstrate whether a product lives up to its claims.
Curated OER
The Big Mo
Students develop media literacy and critical thinking skills to analyze trends and determine the extent to which their decisions may be influenced by manipulation. They examine the mathematics of trends and write about a time they...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Teaching the 9/11 Anniversary
Here is a lesson plan on terrorism and 9/11. While outdated, it could be easily revised for today's teens. It includes targeted vocabulary, a background information activity, critical thinking questions, and step-by-step procedures for...
Curated OER
Creating Scrolls Based on the illustrated TALE OF GENJI
Students identify formal elements that characterize the scroll, work in a variety of media, from traditional to digital, to create their own scrolls, work into digital printout with at least two media, and engage in meaningful critiques...
Curated OER
Stereotypes: More Than Meets the Eye
Students explore the concept of stereotyping. They observe images and media that portray the Middle East and its inhabitants. Students make determinations about the impact of the images on their perceptions. They consider ways to...
Curated OER
Divorce And Stepfamilies: Breaking Apart, Coming Together
Young scholars view a PBS "In the Mix" video about the challenges teens face when their parents divorce and/or remarry. They participate in a class discussion about the video, role-play related situations and explore media depictions of...
Curated OER
Objective Versus Subjective
Students examine the difference between subjective and objective statements, newscasts, and media. They discover that subjective is opinion based and objective is fact based.
Curated OER
Growing a Citizen
High schoolers analyze messages and values associated with civic engagement present in the media. They analyze the local community's promotion of values associated with civic engagement by conducting investigative research. They...
Beacon Learning Center
Spotted Stones Linked Just Right
Discover how to play the game of dominoes using mental math skills to solve equations that earn points. Pupils become fast critical thinkers in determining which unknown addend tally up points in their favor.
Curated OER
Whose History Is It Anyway? Patterns in History
Read and examine primary source material in order to analyze, synthesize, and debate information about the Great Depression. Critical analysts research various source materials related to the Great Depression. They work in teams to...
Scholastic
The Science of Marijuana—How THC Affects the Brain
Marijuana can affect every part of a user's life—starting with the delicate nervous centers of the brain. An informative article and worksheet prompt teenagers to learn more about how the THC found in most forms of marijuana can...
The New York Times
'The Century's Bitterest Journalistic Failure'? Considering Times Coverage of the Holocaust
Rich with primary sources and additional resources, this plan asks class members to think critically about newspaper coverage of the Holocaust. Focusing in particular on the analysis of the article "150th Anniversary: 1851-2001: Turning...
Idaho Coalition
The Hunger Games: Gender Empowerment
The odds are in your favor that your pupils will love this lesson that uses The Hunger Games to launch a study of gender empowerment, as well as the influence of social constructs of gender. Groups discuss how Katniss Everdeen and Peeta...
Curated OER
Innovation for Good
Many historical innovations were created for the common good. Get your students ready for life as a critical thinker with this lesson which defines the differences between innovation and invention. They will conduct Internet research,...
Curated OER
Evaluating the Strength of Scientific Evidence: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
A happy discovery occurred in Arkansas in 2004: a woodpecker, believed to be extinct since the 1940s, reappeared! Or did it? Middle to high school ecologists examine scientific evidence and use critical-thinking skills to determine...
Brooklyn Museum
Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958–1968
What role did women play in pop art during the 1950s and 1960s? The class researches the role of women in mid-century America and how those roles were portrayed through the pop art of the time. They use an excellent set of...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan Outline for Rainbow Science
Young scientists study light reflection and refraction as they determine the critical angle, the rainbow angle, and color separation in rainbows. Teams record the data they collect in a shared spreadsheet and discuss results with the class.
PBS
Be the Press: Local Interviews, National News
High school learners research an issue that is important to them and apply the research to write a newspaper article. After thoroughly researching their topic, students strengthen research, analyzation, and writing skills, by...
Curated OER
Evaluating Web Sites
Learners determine how to critically evaluate visual and medias aspects of web sites. They examine the purpose of assigned web sites.