Curated OER
Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate
Students examine the life of Jackie Robinson and the ways in which he and they can influence government policy.
Curated OER
Free at Last: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students view the "I Have A Dream" speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. They use the Internet to research Martin Luther King's life and work.
Curated OER
Keeping A Watchful Eye
Students explore the use of satellite surveillance systems to track criminals. They consider how the use of this technology in law enforcement might affect them and write opinions on whether or not such a system should be adopted by...
Curated OER
Breaking the Code: Actions and Songs of Protest
Students listen to and discuss the purpose of protest music. They analyze an editorial cartoon related to Jim Crow and read questions from the literacy tests given to African-Americans. They work together to write a song about the...
Curated OER
Recognizing and Combating Segregation in U.S. Schools Today
Students explore the prevalence of racism and statistical segregation in America's schools. They design a project to investigate how the racial makeup of their school compares to other schools. In addition, they evaluate their design...
Curated OER
Using High Stakes Testing to Make Students and Schools Accountable for Learning
Students conduct an informal survey about their views on high stakes testing and use basic computation skills to evaluate results as a group. They participate in activities related to high stakes testing and "No Child Left Behind"...
National First Ladies' Library
Safety or Civil Liberty? The Trial of Sacco and Vanzet
Students investigate the Sacco-Vanzetti trial and develop a basic understanding of the issues involved. Then they write an essay taking a stance on the Sacco-Vanzetti trial: was the trial fair? were the two men falsely accused? Finally,...
Curated OER
The Struggle Against Segregation
Middle schoolers use vocabulary related to the history of segregation in the United States. They study about the history of segregation in America and recognize the challenges and prejudice that many African Americans faced in the 1950s....
Curated OER
Safety Up in the Air
Students explore the controversy over a bill giving pilots the option to become armed federal law enforcement officers. They brainstorm other possible security measures for airplanes and airports.
Curated OER
The Fight to End "Separate but Equal" in American Schools
Students study the court cases related to Brown v. Board of Education and the "separate but equal" standard established by Plessy v. Ferguson. They create an informational display that can be used to teach others the particulars of the...
Curated OER
One Person CAN Make a Difference
Students illustrate how the actions of one person can make a difference. They identify school and community issues to address and complete group projects and action plans for making changes in the school or community.
Curated OER
The Three Gorges: Should Nature or Technology Reign?
Students participate in a debate regarding the Three Gorges Dam in China. In this research skills lesson, students prepare for a debate regarding the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China. Students participate in the dam taking...
SRI International
The Water Crisis
Water, water, everywhere, right? Wrong. Learners assess their own knowledge of water availability on Earth. Then, through a reading, a teacher-led presentation, and an activity, pupils learn about the importance of available clean...
US Holocaust Museum
Genocide in Darfur: Darfur Eyewitness Teacher Guide
The events of the Holocaust in World War II would never happen again, right? Scholars research the current genocide taking place in Darfur. Using video and Holocaust Reading Passages, they analyze the horror of this forgotten part of the...
Code.org
The Need for Programming Languages
LEGO see if you can recreate my design. Individuals build an arrangement from LEGO blocks and write directions for someone else to follow in order to recreate the arrangement. Pairs then swap directions and try to...
Advocates for Human Rights
The Rights of Migrants in the United States Lesson Plan: Fleeing for Your Life
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...
Baylor College
Plant Parts You Eat
Plants provide a variety of delicious foods essential for human survival. In the fourth lesson of this series on food science, young scientists investigate common fruits, vegetables, and grains in order to determine which plant part is...
Baylor College
Breathing Machine
Take a deep breath and have your class construct working models of a lung! Using 500ml plastic bottles as the chest cavity, and balloons for the lung and the diaphragm, learners work in groups to make a model. The models help them to...
LABScI
Vision Lab: The Eye
Our bodies have some amazing capabilities, but there are some limitations. Explore the limitations of the human eye through the eighth lab activity in a series of 12 biology lessons. Individuals measure their own peripheral vision...
Baylor College
The Variety and Roles of Microbes
Mini microbiologists play a card game in which they group microorganisms by groups: virus, fungus, protist, or bacteria. Then they identify the roles different microbes play in the natural world and explore how humans effectively use...
Baylor College
Microbes and Disease
Discuss how diseases have impacted human history. Divide your class into groups and assign each group one of the following: tuberculosis, malaria, plague, cholera, smallpox, and AIDS. They read up on, complete a concept map, and present...
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Help or Hype: The Ethics of Bio-Nanotechnology
Ethical concerns are not always black and white. A well-designed lesson presents learners with scenarios for which ethics may come into question. Scholars learn to consider the different sides of a situation and make an unbiased...
Sea World
Ocean Discovery
Immerse your young marine biologists in the world of marine animals. The lesson includes several activities that are age-appropriate for preschoolers and kindergartners, including coloring pages, gluing feathers and sand onto paper...
Florida Association of Social Studies Supervisors
A Century of Black Life, History, and Culture
Packed with a wealth of information about African-Americans of note, this packet, and the links it provides to other resources, could be used as is for a month-long study of Black history or to supplement lessons already in your curriculum.