Curated OER
DISCOUNT LENSES ( GELATIN WAVE GUIDES)
Students study attributes associated with concept of fiber optics is done using a labmade fiber optic from clear molded gelatin. A variety of shapes can be cut and pieced together to form a conduit to transmit the laser beam by internal...
Curated OER
Auschwitz Episode Guide: Surprising Beginnings
Students examine how the Nazis came to power and living conditions at Auschwitz. They watch and discuss a PBS documentary, read and discuss handouts, analyze a Pyramid of Hate, and assign experiences in their own lives to different...
Curated OER
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
In this Sense and Sensibility worksheet, students respond to 8 short answer questions and complete 1 graphic organizer designed to be used prior to reading, while reading, and after reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Utopia/Dystopia: The American Dream
America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a instructional activity that focuses on speeches...
Curated OER
Japanese Internment--How Point of View Influences Attitude
How does background and experience influence one's point of view? Dwight Okita's famous poem about the Japanese internment is the text used to explore this essential question. Class members study primary documents to gain the necessary...
Curated OER
A Journey to Paradigm Shifts Guided Through the Lives of Gandhi and King
The students read "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Through this study the students will learn what paradigms are, and how to distinguish whether the paradigms they have established in their lives are positive or...
Curated OER
The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
"The Gettysburg Address" is the basis of a series of activities that not only model for learners how to conduct a close reading of a text, but also how a close reading can help them comprehend a difficult text. The detailed, step-by-step...
Speak Truth to Power
Dalai Lama: Free Expression and Religion
How is religious freedom connected to the conflict between China and Tibet? After reading an online passage of background information, your learners will divide into groups and both read and view an interview with the Dalai Lama. They...
Curated Video
Privacy Part 2
Why is online privacy so important? Explore privacy with a group assignment for which pupils create word clouds with words they associate with privacy. A discussion and online activity follow. Learners will read articles, explore the...
Daughters of the American Revolution
Lesson 2: How Do We Determine the Value of Education?
Have women always had the same educational opportunities as their male counterparts? Young historians read an 1819 essay by Emma Willard on the state of female education in the 19th century before discussing their views regarding women's...
Smithsonian Institution
We Have a Story to Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region
How did colonial settlement and the establishment of the United States affect Native Americans in the Chesapeake region? Your young historians will analyze contemporary and historical maps, read informational texts, and work in groups to...
Museum of Tolerance
Influence of Media
We are bombarded with media images expressly designed to influence viewers. Learning how to analyze the intended effects of these images is essential and the focus of an activity that asks viewers to use the provided questions to guide...
Teach With Movies
The Great Gatsby
Are you thinking about incorporating a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel in a study of The Great Gatsby? Check out a guide loaded with suggestions for how to supplement a reading of the novel with scenes from three film...
iCivics
Government Spending
After discussing personal financing with your class, consider following up with this well-rounded introduction to government spending. The resource includes reading documents and worksheets, and covers topics as the federal deficit and...
Personal Genetics Education Project
Introduction to Personal Genetics
Adolescents have the opportunity to consider how they feel about the possibilities presented by the current availability of genetic sequencing. After some instruction, they participate in a four-corners activity in which you read a...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
End of the Cold War
How significant was the Cold War during the 20th century? After reading and analyzing speeches by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, learners consider the historical context of foreign policy decisions made during the Cold...
Scholastic
Women's Suffrage for Grades 1–2
Scholars take part in a grand conversation after they examine facts and stories about the Women's Suffrage Movement. Eight discussion questions bring light to influential women, the importance of voting, citizenship, and voting rights.
Personal Genetics Education Project
Genetics, Jobs and Your Rights
Your class will read an overview of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, passed in 2008 and address the question of whether or not genetic information should be used to influence our career paths. In jigsaw style, they then are...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Freedom of Movement
Class members examine human migration. For this population lesson, they read an article entitled, "Freedom of Movement" and respond to discussion questions about the article related to guest worker programs.
NPR
Same-Sex Marriage
The battle over same-sex marriage is a prevalent issue in the United States, and a valuable topic to be discussed in your social studies classroom. Here is a basic outline of introductory questions, focus questions, vocabulary, and media...
Civil War Trust
Contrasting the North and South before the War
Learners create a standing cube with four panels that display information on the North and South's economy, geography and climate, society, and means of transportation before the Civil War. Through discussion and reading...
Newseum
The Medium Shapes the Message
Where do you get your news? Have learners examine four different publications and decide which one they would choose to read on their own time. The resource includes a list of publication types to supply and a worksheet for groups...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Fred Seibel, the Times-Dispatch, and Massive Resistance
A lesson challenges scholars to analyze editorial cartoons created by Fred Seibel, illustrator for the Times-Dispatch, during the Massive Resistance. A class discussion looking at today's editorial pages and Jim Crow Laws leads the...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Soviet Espionage in America
The war against Communism and Joseph McCarthy’s place in it are the focus of a series of three lessons examining postwar America from 1945-1950. This first lesson asks groups to read an introduction that describes the Verona Project and...