PBS
Inventions
Use this lesson plan to discuss inventions that have changed your class's world and have impacted society. Middle schoolers investigate important inventions of their time and design an invention in a simulated business atmosphere. Modify...
Curated OER
Overland Trails To The West
After observing a map of trails that settlers took in the 1800s, your class will write a journal with the perspective of a settler. In their journals, they must describe the trail they traveled, geographical features they saw, states and...
US House of Representatives
“‘The Negroes’ Temporary Farewell,” Jim Crow and the Exclusion of African Americans from Congress, 1887–1929
Despite some advances made during the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War, the period from 1887 through 1929, African Americans serving in Congress suffered severe setbacks due to Jim Crow Laws and voter suppression. Class members...
Curated OER
Ancient Roman Travel Brochure
Ancient Rome is the topic of this creative lesson plan. Students research Ancient Rome using the links provided, and then create a travel brochure using Microsoft Publisher. What a fun way to review facts on Ancient Rome!
Missouri Department of Elementary
Dealing with Peer Influence: What Are Bullying and Harassment?
Scholars examine examples of peer pressure and discuss how specific actions negatively affect one's well-being. Learners gather in small groups to write two scenarios in which peer pressure is used. They reference the STAR method in how...
Curated OER
Rain Sticks
Artists of all ages construct a three-dimensional form and fill it with rice to make gentle, percussive sounds. They discover that Native South American tribesmen would harvest dead branches from cactus plants, fill them with small...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Cast Your Vote
In a simple but unique lesson plan, youngsters learn about the history of voting systems. They then collaborate in groups to develop a new honest and consistent voting method. A class-wide poll is taken, evaluating the designs of other...
Curated OER
Legislation: Passing a Bill in the House of Representatives
Students study the concept of legislation as it relates to passing a bill in the House of Representatives. In this legislation: passing a bill in the house of representative lesson plan, students identify why and how bills are introduced...
Curated OER
Quilt Block Collage
Learn the art of quilting with this lesson plan that can be connected to a history lesson on quilts in Ancient Egypt, China, and modern art. After studying a general history of quilts, its uses, and the history of different patterns,...
Curated OER
Fun-Factory - NOT!
Students design a solution to a problem based on the Industrial Revolution. In this design lesson plan, students come up with architectural designs and present them to teachers in a simulated factory.
Curated OER
Trading Cards
Students create trading cards based on historical individuals that helped people with disabilities. In this disabilities lesson plan, students put the name, picture, description, and graphic on the card.
Library of Congress
Investigating the Building Blocks of Our Community’s Past, Present, and Future
As Ken Jennings said, "There's just something hypnotic about maps." Certainly, the longer you look at them the more you can learn. In this project-based learning lesson, individuals study both historic and present-day maps of...
Advocates for Human Rights
Undocumented Immigrants
Stay or go? As part of a study of immigration and human rights, class members listen to the stories of several immigrants and must decide if the story was their own if they would stay in the United States as an undocumented...
Missouri Department of Elementary
How Much Does Smoking Really Cost?
Following a brief survey about tobacco, scholars examine a fact sheet to answer questions about the substance. A practice page challenges the class to determine the cost of the habit using money math. Pupils discuss their findings...
Common Sense Media
Super Digital Citizen
Teach your charges how to become responsible digital citizens with superheroes! Start out with a brief class discussion about what acting safely, responsibly, and respectfully looks like. Next, have each pupil create their own digital...
Federal Reserve Bank
Government Spending and Taxes
What types of government programs are designed to improve economic inequity in the United States? Introduce your learners to government programs, such as low-income housing, Social Security, and Medicaid, how they work to improve...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
The Wrong Side of History: How One Group Justified Its Opposition on the Freedom Riders and Civil Rights for African Americans
Designed as a supplement to the study of the Freedom Riders, this resource uses primary sources to reveal the views of those who opposed the Freedom Riders. After careful study of the arguments presented by the members of the Montgomery...
Missouri Department of Elementary
“Re-Solutioning”: Practice Brings Out Our Best
Seventh graders create and perform a skit that demonstrates their conflict resolution skills. They begin by examining the process of crafting a performance and review what they have learned about conflict resolution. Next, they...
Missouri Department of Elementary
My Conflict Shield
As an exercise in self-awareness and improvement, class members create a Conflict Shield listing 12 skills they believe are the most useful in conflict resolution. They then color the ones they have mastered while leaving uncolored those...
National Endowment for the Humanities
James Madison: Raising an Army—Balancing the States and the Federal Government
To war! To war! Every nation in the history of the world has had to deal with warfare on some level. Scholars go through a series of activities and discussions surrounding the development of the Constitution to help them better...
Curated OER
Lesson 3: Japan's "Southern Advance" and the March toward War, 1940-1941
High school historians interpret historical evidence presented in primary resources to decide if the southern advance was a reckless step toward war, or if it was reasonable. They research the Japanese southern advance tactics during the...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Domestic Violence
Students examine domestic violence issues. In this global studies lesson, students read a case study on domestic violence. Students take notes on the case and respond to discussion questions.
Curated OER
Cures: Barometer
Students discuss and fill out a worksheet about the controversial cures of people with disabilities in the past. In this disabilities lesson plan, students write about the issues and justification for if they agree or disagree with these...
Center for History and New Media
A Look at Virginians During Reconstruction, 1865-1877
The transition between rebellion to reunification was not smooth after the Civil War. Young historians compare primary and secondary source documents in a study of the Reconstruction era in Virginia, noting the rights that were not...