Curated OER
We're on the Map!
Students identify a variety of topographic map symbols. They make generalizations about an unidentified community by reading and interpreting map symbols.
Curated OER
Safety
Students examine crimes common among older adults. They compare the similarities and differences between crimes affecting both the young and old. They take and review a 'crime quiz'. They discuss resources in the community that provide...
Curated OER
Racial Violence in America: Lynchings, 1877 to 1920
Students analyze racial violence in America. Students listen to interviews with survivors of racial violence. They discuss the reasons behind the violence. Students explore the African-American community's response to racial violence and...
Curated OER
"Globalization"
An interesting activity that will spark a great class discussion on globalization and wealth distribution around the world. Each group is asked to accomplish the same task, but are not given equal access to materials. It is up to them to...
Teaching Tolerance
The Power of Words: Normative Sexuality
Students collect newspaper articles which discuss societies who enforce heterosexuality. They brainstorm how heterosexuality is enforced in their community. They answer questions to end the instructional activity.
Curated OER
The Manhattan Project
Students discover the technological and scientific requirements for making the atomic bomb, the immediate effects of an atomic bomb, and the social and political changes that have resulted from the Manhattan Project.
Ohio State University
Where in the World Can I Find a Healthy Diet?
What constitutes a healthy diet? In what way is a healthy diet defined and influenced by culture? Groups investigate the community and national resources available in a country, and then design a healthy diet for its citizens.
Curated OER
Social Studies: Neighborhoods of the Future
Students explore the present physical and human characteristics of their communities and predict their future appearance. In a two-paneled drawing, they depict their community as it is today and then imagine how it might change in the...
Social Media Toolbox
About Facebook
If everyone is on Facebook, should the school's news publication be as well? Scholars study a social media giant in the 11th lesson from The Social Media Toolbox's 16-part series. The activity combines individual study and collaboration...
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Quest for Magic Minutes
A "Magic Minute" activity asks class groups to develop a commercial to advertise a way to turn a time-waster into a time-saver. Ad groups begin by brainstorming time-wasters and then problem-solve was to turn them into time-savers. After...
Nemours KidsHealth
Empathy: Grades 9-12
Empathy can be the glue that holds a society together. Learning how to see and appreciate a situation from another's point is key to developing empathy toward others. The two activities in this resource are designed to help teens...
National Museum of the American Indian
To Honor & Comfort Native Quilting Traditions
"Native American history leaps boldly off the colorful quilts and patchwork designs." Learners discuss Native American identity and symbolism by reading about a variety of Native quilters and their unique art process, and participate in...
Facing History and Ourselves
Speaking Up and Speaking Out
The final instructional activity in the Standing Up for Democracy unit offers class members a way they can stand up and speak out by crafting spoken word poetry, or Slam poetry. After analyzing several examples, individuals reflect on...
School Improvement in Maryland
Smart Growth
New roads, new businesses, new developments, new mass transit systems. All growth has both positive and negative effects on communities. Government classes investigate the principles of Maryland's 1997 Smart Growth program and...
PBS
Analyzing Stop and Frisk Through Personal Stories and Infographics
How much can you learn about an important topic from a single image? High schoolers analyze an infographic that represents the number of stops performed during the Stop and Frisk police procedure. After building background information...
Stanford University
Lesson Plan: Montgomery Bus Boycott
Most of us have heard of Rosa Parks, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Martin Luther King, Jr. But what about Claudette Colvin, Virginia Durr, Freedom Summer, or the Birmingham Children's Crusade? A five-instructional activity...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—Seventh Grade
Having a hard time defining bullying with your seventh graders? Discuss the different types of behavior one would see in a bullying situation with a series of lessons, worksheets, and group activities.
Global Oneness Project
Understanding Blindness
Gaia Squarci's photo essay, Broken Screen, turns viewers attention to the challenges faced by those with visual impairments. After viewing the images, class members discuss why they believe the photographer structured the album as she did.
Global Oneness Project
Then and Now
The devastating changes happening to the Native American inhabitants of an island off the coast of Louisiana are the topic of an informational lesson. After scholars break into groups to explore particular topics, they come back together...
American Documentary
Religion in Culture & Politics: Women’s empowerment in Syria
What defines a woman as empowered, and how does this definition compare to the ideas and actions of a group of Muslim women in Syria? After watching a series of video clips from a documentary film about a school for girls in Damascus,...
Brown University
The Candidates and Their Values: Election 2016
Voting for the next president of the United States is about finding the candidate who most closely aligns with your own values and sense of democracy. High schoolers become acquainted with the candidates from the 2016 election with a...
Curated OER
Globalization and Consumerism
Is the expansion of American corporations abroad a good or bad thing? After examining the global operations of Ford Motor Company, McDonald's, and Walmart, class members are asked to evaluate the impact of globalization and...
Curated OER
Chinese New Year
Gong hei fat choy! Celebrate Chinese New Year with a variety of activities that introduce learners to the Chinese myth of the race that determined which animals earned their place the zodiac.
Deliberating in a Democracy
National Service
Uncle Sam wants you to serve! Scholars investigate the role of mandatory national service in an open democracy. They research, watch a video, and hold a debate surrounding the issue of requiring one year of service to gain a better...