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Frighteningly Fabulous Festivals
Students explore the significance of holiday foods, first by researching Halloween-type festivals from around the world, and then by reporting on foods related to different holidays celebrated in their homes.
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Hungry for History
Learners examine what their diets would be like without the inclusion of staple crops such as corn, wheat and sugar, and discover the value that chocolate had for the Mayan people. They create display boards for a food festival.
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Cell Project
Students investigate cells. They discover what cells are, where they are found, what they do and what they are made of. They construct a giant cell that is posted on the bulletin board.
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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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Suitable Schools
Students explore education requirements for different professions, and define the skills and knowledge that adults use in their everyday lives. They define and describe what students, teachers and parents expect from formal schooling.
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Race to the Presses
Students explore how the news media relays information about race in the United States by creating collages from newspapers and magazines and by sharing their reflections about the responsibilities of the news media in covering...
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Working It Out
Students participate in a simulation in which they are arbitrarily assigned different work roles and compare their experiences to those discussed in a New York Times article about the racial divisions in a pork production plant.
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Treasure in the Trash
Learners decode archaeological artifacts in order to recreate an event, using discarded objects as a model for real-life artifacts. They apply this model to reconstructing historical or literary events from artifacts they create.
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Just an Environment or a Just Environment?
This lesson plan explores the multiple causes of racial segregation and environmental racism, and helps students understand the perpetuation of institutional racism in the post-Civil Rights era. Students will perform a mock tribunal in...
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Executive Decisions
Students examine the reasons behind key presidential decisions throughout American history and, by debating the pros and cons of these decisions in retrospect, students consider how these decisions affect us still today.
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Weathering the Odds
Young scholars explore the limitations of weather forecasting and how consumer-driven weather forecasting companies attempt to meet the demand for accurate, long-term weather forecasting. They act as meteorologists, researching the weather.
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There's No Place Like Home
Students explore how the tourism industry was affected by the events of September 11, 2001, examine the impact that tourism has on their state's economy and design aggressive promotional campaigns for local tourism to be presented to the...
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Armchair Travelers
Students consider how other countries and cultures influence furniture and home furnishings. They create a design plan for a particular room using the influences of a particular country.
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Trading Nations
Students analyze the impact of a global economy on the workers, business leaders and governments of China and the United States.
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The Taming of the Few
Students consider the cultural, historical, and social implications of domesticating animals as pets. They create informative posters of various animals, illustrating their histories as pets.
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Political Race
Students explore political topics and issues that often involve discussions of race or ethnicity. They develop campaign speeches voicing their stances on their assigned topics and explore how their racial and/ or ethnic backgrounds shape...
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Hollywood Candidate
Students consider how a political candidate creates a campaign image. They, in groups, create short biographical films promoting various candidates currently running for office in the United States.
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Where Will You Be November 2?
Students consider reasons why many Americans do not vote in national elections and explore the increase in new registered voters. They research a particular demographic and create an advertisement encouraging members of that group to vote.
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Running (Check) Mate
Students consider qualities that the public seeks in a vice president, then analyze statements made by the vice presidential candidates and multimedia commentary on the debate by a Times reporter. For homework.
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Intimidation of a Nation
Students discuss their understanding of "intimidation." In groups, they analyze and discuss recent terrorist threats to the scheduled democratic elections in Iraq, and then reflect on whether they believe the elections should continue as...
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Crash Test Smarties
Students share hypotheses about the variables needed to produce a collision between two moving objects. They simulate the impact of a moving object on an object that creates a spray of debris, and simulate a NASA Deep Impact study.
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Occupational Oxymoron
Students consider their own notions of poverty, examine the life of a woman classified as "working poor" from a variety of perspectives, and present their findings to the class. Then, students synthesize their knowledge in a paper.
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Security and Savings for All?
Students 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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No Place Like Home?
Students investigate the impact of the physical environment on an endangered species. They create a plan for the ideal care of the species and develop an advertisement to promote awareness about the need for its protection.