Curated OER
The Ancient Art of Shadow Puppet Plays
Shadow puppetry has an ancient past, it is also a great way to build oral expression and reading fluency. Young thespians research folk tales, compare and contrast reality and fantasy, then create and perform a shadow puppet play based...
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36 Public Policy Questions to Energize Your Government/History Classroom Debates
Need topics that are sure to engage your debaters? This list of public policy questions includes such topics as school mascots, regulation of major league baseball, physician-assisted suicide, and violence in video games. A great...
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Children of War
Take a closer look at the impact of war in this language arts and social studies lesson. Middle schoolers use primary sources to conduct research as they relate to the effects of war on children. They compare and contrast the effects of...
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Picturing History: John Singleton Copley and British Portraiture
Students observe and compare 18th century British portraits with those made by John Singleton Copley. By conducting research they explore the cultural climate of the portraits in order to write a historically accurate story.
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Coming of Age During Japanese Occupation: Richard E. Kim's Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood
Explore the implications of the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. Learners read Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood, participate in classroom discussions about the novel and keep journals in which they respond to...
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Alexander Hamilton and the Roots of Federalism
Explore the origin of political parties in the United States. Learners work in groups to read and analyze copies of the "Report on Manufactures" written by Alexander Hamilton. Then, they complete a worksheet comparing the Federalists to...
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Secret Life of Bees Research
The Secret Life of Bees provides high schoolers an opportunity to connect the events in the novel to events in America’s history. After choosing a topic from a provided list, individuals research how the event affected the Civil Rights...
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"Your Son, Your Only One" - The Sacrifice of Isaac as a Motif in Holocaust Poetry
Class groups examine a series of poems that use Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac as a motif in Holocaust poetry. Included are questions, notes to the teacher, and bibliographical information on each poem. The activities could be...
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Causes of America's Great Depression
Students identify principal causes of the Great Depression. They analyze causes including a decline in worldwide trade, the stock market crash, and bank failures and explain the legacy of the Depression in American society.
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Stories of the American Experience
Students interview a veteren of any of the major U.S. wars. They must identify one quote from the veteren that sums up their experience.
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Poetry of The Great War: 'From Darkness to Light'?
Students examine World War I poetry for historical context, poetic devices, and participate in a class discussion. They write an analysis of the poetry's form and its content.
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A Study of Twentieth Century British Culture through Art and Literature
Here’s an interesting approach to the analysis of similar subjects in different mediums. Based on the methodology of Professor Jules Prown, learners apply his three stages (description, deduction, and speculation) to a painting and a...
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Ages in Stages: An Exploration of the Life Cycle based on Erik Erikson's Eight Stages of Human Development
Examine Erikson's chart on the various stages one goes through growing up. Individually, they write a paper on whether or not they fit into those categories and how they are different today. In groups, for each stage they role play the...
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The Art and Science of Impressionist Color
Discover Impressionist painting as students investigate the 19th century combinations of colors characteristically used. Students experiment with their own paintings, utilizing primary and secondary colors.
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Beowulf: Songs of Ancient Heroes
Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...
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History Personified
In 1856 Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina beat Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts over the head with a cane. This event, which highlighted the acrimonious debate over the expansion of slavery, is the focus of a paper...
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Storytelling: Oral Traditions Learning Center
Young scholars explore the oral traditions. In this storytelling lesson, students compare and contrast stories from the cultural traditions of Alaska and Hawaii.
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Creating an Oral History--Who Tells the Story?
Explore the difficulties in compiling an oral history with this lesson. Young researchers conduct interviews and consider how point of view changes various accounts of a single incidence, resulting in conflicting information. They view a...
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Jack London's The Call of the Wild: "Nature Faker"?
Young scholars examine how Jack London tells a story from the point of view of an animal. They read and discuss primary source documents, analyze text and excerpts, complete a chart, and explore various websites.
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Supreme Court Decisions on Freedom of Religion
What does freedom of religion mean? Analyze a series of Supreme Court cases where the First Amendment right to freedom of religion was put to the test. They discuss the cases' outcomes and argue whether the right decision was made....
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Vocabulary Building - Declaration of Independence
Young scholars read the first part of the Declaration of Independence and mark the words they don't know. First, they try to guess what the words mean by looking at the them in context, and then they look up the words in a dictionary.
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Children's Literature and the Bill of Rights
Students read a variety of well-known studenT books and discuss concepts presented in the books as they relate to the Bill of Rights. They discuss the books and compare them to the Bill of Rights Amendments.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Debate in the United States over the League of Nations: Five Camps: From Voices of Consent to Voices of Dissent
Students explore and discuss Woodrow Wilson's concepts for peace and the League of Nations. They understand efforts made to foster American support for the League and discuss the opposition shown in the Senate.
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My Arkansas Family Tree
Here is a two-part lesson that introduces learners to genealogy by having them create family trees, and map the movements of their ancestors. While this resource is designed for kids who live in Arkansas, it certainly can be adapted for...