Students use cameras to take pictures of their community and create an exhibit to raise money. For this cameras lesson plan, students learn basic photography techniques and send their money to the "kids with cameras" project.

Students read Nervous Conditions and explore freedom and oppression. They discuss types of oppression and list examples of discrimination. They create collages or timelines about the novel. They research present day Zimbabwe and make a...

Ken Burn's epic documentary miniseries The Civil War, broadcast in 1990, was the most-watched PBS program ever. A question sheet helps viewers keep track of events in the first episode of the documentary.

Global warming — what a hot topic! A thorough unit challenges learners to research, read, explore, and write about carbon, its role and increasing nature in our atmosphere, and how global warming is affecting lives and environments...

Geometry students will be ecstatic about these engaging and enlightening end-of-the-year projects! Types of project ideas include interviewing a geometer, an ABCs of geometry poster, an engineering lab report, and origami work. 

Learning to craft quality questions is a skill that can be taught. Class members use the Question Formulation Technique to learn how to create and refine both closed-ended and open-ended questions. They then view West of the West's...

Everybody's a critic—even your pupils! Using the included resources as a guide, screen films related to social justice and ask film enthusiasts to critique them. Publish the reviews for your school community or develop a film festival...

Continue with creating documentaries with the fourth lesson in a series. After explaining the concept of preproduction, send groups off to make some decisions about their films. Groups can use the handout and the four provided questions...

Learners explore animal characteristics by researching the animals in a zoo. In this video documentary lesson, students view the local zoo and create a documentary about a single animal they found at the zoo. Learners present their...

Give your WWI study collaborative energy using a group research project. Groups are assigned one of the six main themes (included). Each group has an outline to guide research but will need an assignment guide. Consider supplementing the...

Students practice making multimedia documentary films by investigating cities of America.  In this U.S. geography lesson, students examine Las Vegas and compare the state of Nevada to 15 other states and discuss their main...

Students propose and create documentary films depicting a slice of "ordinary" life that reveals something unique or surprising about its subject. They, in groups, make films and present them to the school.

In this reading comprehension activity, students read several passages about the film industry and then answer eight corresponding questions. Additionally, students write a short description of a documentary they would make about...

Mamie Till, the mother of Emmett Till and civil rights activist, believed that her son's murder was the last straw before public outrage over racial injustice spilled over into the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century. A history...

Students experiment with plastics.  In this what is plastic lesson, students make a simple polymer and discuss recycling.  Students identify various types of plastics. 

Students read and discuss an online article as they consider what makes a center of activity in a city or town. They produce a documentary film of the hub of activity in their school.

Students reach a consensus as to what makes a good reality-based TV show. They create their own scenarios for a new such show, and critique it, based on the criteria the class establishes.

Young scholars watch a documentary film about arson and why children sometimes commit arson. They role play a scenario in which the school was deliberately set on fire. They develop a news report in which they interview three people...

Learners complete a WebQuest. In this water cycle activity, students investigate the cycle through a WebQuest activity. Learners research the water cycle through Internet resources and create a documentary video of their process.

Students examine the roles of mothers and grandmothers by looking at black-and-white photographs of one American family and comparing that family's multi-generational story with their own. In this mothers and grandmothers lesson plan,...

While he may not be as well known as civil rights activists such as Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, or Malcolm X, Ralph Bunche's contributions certainly made him a leader in the struggle for civil rights in the United States and...

Young scholars analyze visual arts by creating drawings in their classroom. In this art analysis lesson, students identify the paintings of Keith Haring by researching the web. Young scholars utilize paper and oil pastels to create...

Learners investigate the types of footwear worn during ten periods of history.  In this secondary, art/math/social studies lesson, students view documentaries and popular films to study the time periods.  Learners research the...

Students watch a varietry of films showing college life. In groups, they take different scenerios from the films and determine how they would have reacted. As a class, they discuss more in depth the issues they might face in college. ...