Curated OER
Serving Up Reality
Students consider the factors that go into running a restaurant and examine how the restaurant industry impacts the economy of the United States. They create skeleton proposals for new restaurants and consider the costs of this type of...
Curated OER
Quilt to Freedom
Students investigate the Underground Railroad. In this African-American history instructional activity, students listen to the book Clara and the Freedom Quilt and use map skills to identify the various locations in the book. Students...
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Getting Green for Christmas
Students examine their family's particular spending habits for a holiday they celebrate, research the financial expectations of retailers during the holiday season and at other times during the year.
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Current Issues and Problems In Turkey
Students engage in a lesson which will focus on five main points: Kurdish nationalism and terrorism, Islamic fundamentalism, economic weakening and inflation, political corruption, and disputes with Greece.
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Black History Stamps
Pupils explore the lives and contributions of the many black Americans who are honored on U.S. commemorative postage stamps, make a presentation that synthesizes information about a historical figure and time, and write a persuasive letter.
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Quilting: The Story of the Underground Railroad
Students explore quilting. They read and discuss the book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. They research African American quilting traditions on the Internet and name three common qualities in quilts. They create a quilt block...
Curated OER
Literary Newspaper: Candide
Prejudice? Religious intolerance? Political sedition? Class distinction? Plight of women? Voltaire satire, anyone? A literary newspaper offers an opportunity for readers of Candide to make text-to-self and text-to-world connections as...
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Cashing In on Cartoons
Students examine the popularity of cartoon characters in marketing strategies. They work on developing their own cartoon characters that could be used for a licensing plan.
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Pandemic Panic
Students gather information about the H1N1 virus, and share this information. In this pandemic lesson students read about Influenza A, or Swine Flu, compile information on the disease, and then present their findings to the class.
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Is All Well in Welfare?
Students explore current welfare reform issues and create plans of action to improve welfare reform laws in the United States. They predict what President Bush's "Working Towards Independence" welfare reform program might entail and...
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Security and Savings for All?
Young scholars act as either Democrats or Republicans to debate plans to alter Social Security. For homework, they consider whether Social Security has become too politicized and propose their own solutions.
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Closing the Gaps
Students examine the defining characteristics of their own generation. They apply their analysis to learning about previous generations, and synthesize their learning by creating improvisational skits and writing creative essays.
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Advising China
Students express their opinions about how growth and modernization affect nations. Reading an article on China, they discuss the causes and effects of exponential growth in a single town. They research how China has changed by writing...
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When Human Rights Are Wronged
Students explore the concept of human rights by examining the arresting of prominent Chinese dissidents who are members of the China Democratic Party. They develop and defend their own Bill of Human Rights and write a reflective essay.
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I'm The Taxman!
Young scholars develop an understanding of how federal revenues are gained by taxes. This foundation enable students to decipher changes in federal tax policy. Groups of young scholars study different types of taxes and prepare...
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The Powers That Be
Students investigate past energy legislation, then write letters to Congress from the perspective of citizens trying to influence the original passage of these bills. Each small group does their research using a website imbedded in this...
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Dissidents Delicately Democratize
Students read and discuss the article, 'Chinese Dissidents Issue a Sharp Challenge to the Government' on pro-democratic manifestos that were recently written in China, write a journal entry on what human rights means to them.
Syracuse University
Harlem Renaissance
The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...
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Evaluating Information on Food Labels
What kinds of foods include corn? Corn syrup? Start by viewing a clip of Food Inc. with your middle or high schoolers. Then, study a list of corn-derived ingredients, encouraging your class to see how many food products contain corn. A...
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Candide Cubing Strategy
Candide is a dense text. To assist in analyzing Voltaire's satire, groups employ a cubing strategy based on Bloom's taxonomy. Complete directions for the strategy, a template for the cube, a worksheet, and a topic list are included.
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Picture Collage Book Report: Voltaire's Candide
Here's an alternative to a traditional book report for your class to demonstrate that they understand and can articulate the main character's evolution and the social themes presented in Voltaire's satirical novel Candide. Your young...
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Missions Accomplished?
Students examine how the war on Iraq is progressing by looking at current events and comparing them to the goals outlined by General Tommy R. Frank; they then create a progress report assessing how close the coalition forces are to...
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From Printed Page to Home Page
Students compare on-line newspapers to their print counterparts
Curated OER
Wild Wildlife
Students assess how people both support and refute actions that lead to the extinction of animals. They examine how the wild tiger population has grown from near-extinction due to conservation efforts. They investigate an animal species...