Asian Art Museum
Experience Chanoyu: A Japanese Tea Gathering
As part of the study of Japanese cultural history, introduce your class members to Chanoyu, the Way of Tea. After a discussion of the history and key elements of Chanoyu, class groups perform the ceremony.
Curated OER
Basket Making
Students create a basket. In this basket making lesson, students explore the Ojibway culture and discover the history of basket making. Students design and construct a basket.
Teaching Tolerance
Reflection: What’s Your FRAME?
Encourage your class to recognize the diversity in the beliefs and backgrounds of their peers. Learners use the acronym FRAME to consider culture, background, and life experiences.
Diane Venzera
Kwanzaa Celebration: Celebrating Family, Community, and Culture
Kwanzaa is the focus of a three-part lesson plan that celebrates the history and traditions of the holiday. Before lighting the Kinara, scholars listen to a read-aloud of Seven Candles of Kwanzaa by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Learners express...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Hopi Traditional Dance and Song
Very few outsiders get to see the Hopi "Butterfly Dance." However, using approved footage from the tribe, class members consider the importance of symbols in Hopi culture by watching the dance and analyzing lyrics from its songs....
Curated OER
Window Into Another Culture
Young scholars read "A Single Lucid Moment" as a class. In groups, they identify the aspects of the United States that might allow for homelessness to happen and compare it with the culture of New Guinea. They write a journal entry...
Peace Corps
Celebrating Our Connections Through Water
Water is vital for survival, but how does it help global cultures flourish? Elementary and middle schoolers learn about the different cultures around the world that celebrate water and incorporate it into their festivals or traditions.
Media Smarts
Defining Popular Culture
What part does media play in creating, defining, and perpetuating popular culture? High schoolers chart their encounters with fads, trends, and icons and reflect on the media's influence on popular culture.
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: What We Value
How have values changed? How does our society influence our choices? Two great questions lead this discussion about food production, history, and cause-and-effect relationships. Pupils analyze a limestone relief from Assyria, research...
Curated OER
1920s Consumer Culture
Students are immersed in the following goals of learning: The importance of consumerism in the 1920's. Also have learners recognize the connections between commodities and culture in the American past and present. Finally the ability for...
Curated OER
Ambassadors or Annoyances?
In this lesson, students learn about the need for behavior standards for American college students in foreign study programs; they then create an introductory guide to the cultural values and customs of their own region for students...
National Gallery of Art
Islamic Art and Culture
Provided by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, this resource for teachers examines Islamic art, including calligraphy, arabesques, and geometric designs. Â A recounting of the spread of the faith and the tumultuous political...
University of the Desert
What Do You Want Your Country to be Like?
How would you like your country to be by 2020? What issues do you feel are most important, and how do those compare with your peers? Learners tackle questions regarding the evolving national and global culture of the twenty-first century...
Curated OER
Cultural Creation Myths
Students write original plays based on supernatural explanations of existence. In this cultural creation myths lesson plan, students listen to five different stories about supernatural creation. Students record similarities and...
Overcoming Obstacles
Clarifying Values
The fourth instructional activity in the Confidence Building module asks participants to think about what they value and how these values influence their decisions. Class members engage in activities that help them identify what they...
Scholastic
Lesson 2: Values and Barriers
Scholars investigate and discuss the importance of values and how they can be used to break barriers. Small groups work collaboratively to examine the text and draw inferences to answer questions. A writing assignment challenges pupils...
Curated OER
What is Culture?
Pupils explore the concept of culture. They discuss the Washoe culture, create a word web, develop a family tree of their own family for a class book, and complete a writing assignment.
Curated OER
Native American Culture
Students research Native American culture. In this Native Americans lesson, students read the folk tale, The Strongest One and identify the natural resources in the poem. Students participate in a discussion of how Native Americans got...
Curated OER
Teaching Justice: Schooling and the Four Waves of U.S. Immigration
U.S. immigration is the focus of a unit on social justice. Over the course of a school year, young historians read a variety of texts to learn about four waves of immigration that have occurred over time in the U.S. An emphasis on...
Curated OER
Medieval Ethiopia, Mali and Nigeria: The Influence of Culture in Africa
Students are introduced to the concept of cultural diffusion. In groups, they identify the culture of Mali, Nigeria and Ethiopia and work together to research how cultural diffusion has changed the country. To end the lesson, they...
Curated OER
Brief Encounters: Building Bridges
Students engage in a roleplaying game n order to experience what it is like to encounter people of a different culture. In this lesson on building cultural connections, students will participate in a cultural simulation which will help...
Curated OER
Inuit Culture: The Family
Young scholars examine the attributes of Inuit families. In this cultural practices instructional activity, students read "Saqiyuq: Stories for the Lives of Three Inuit Women," and respond to 10 comprehension and critical thinking...
Curated OER
Native American Culture
Students examine the links between culture and geography. In this Native American cultures lesson, students research the cultural traditions of selected Native American groups. Students compare and contrast their findings.
Curated OER
How Cultures Travel
Pupils examine how people and cultures have moved over time. They plot the movement of different groups of people and examine any cultural artifacts. They research a local group of people to determine how their community has changed over...