Elizabeth Murray Project
The Education of Women in Colonial America
What educational opportunities were available to women during the colonial era in American history? How did the opportunities available to women differ from those for men? To answer this question, class members examine a series of...
Foreign Policy Research Institute
The Mind of a Terrorist: A Psychosocial Perspective
What a great way to make a psychology lesson plan on personality development socio-politically relevant! Class members investigate causes of radicalism--specifically, becoming a terrorist. This resource includes background information,...
Curated OER
The Art and Culture of the Afro-American
Your high schoolers will examine the community in which they live and discuss with the class. Using the Internet, they identify the importance of African-American art and how it relates to the African-American culture. Individually, they...
Global Oneness Project
Relocating Residents: The Impact of Housing on Community
Sama Maydani and Sarah Kuck's film, Even the Walls, that explores the benefits and drawbacks of gentrification in downtown Seattle, asks viewers to consider how houses, apartment buildings, and outdoor spaces can be designed to build a...
Channel Islands Film
Restoration Channel Islands Debate
Introduce learners to the debate format with an activity that uses the National Park Service's controversial Channel Islands restoration program as a topic. Class members learn how to generate provocative debate questions, how to prepare...
US Institute of Peace
Perspectives on Peace
Much like a garden, once the seeds of peace are planted, they need to be tended! How can humankind make and keep peace? The second installment in a series of 15 peacebuilding activities focuses on different perceptions of peace. The...
Curated OER
Childhood in Early 19th-Century America
Students interpret and analyze primary source documents and compare and contrast childhood today with that of the past.
Curated OER
Cancer Banner Art Installation
Students complete a service learning project to raise money for Relay for Life. In this service learning lesson, students discuss installation art and watch a video about Pepon Osorio. Students review articles about service projects and...
Curated OER
Learning Landscapes
Fifth graders analyze a landscape depicting Yosemite during the time of the Wild West. They compare their perceptions of the West from film and television to this representation. They observe the use of scale and color to depict size and...
Curated OER
Reading Primary Source Documents: Comparing Sources
Students analyze and compare various primary source documents. They formulate historical questions based on the documents.
Curated OER
What It Means to Be an American Indian
Learners analyze primary source documents and evaluate historical evidence to find consequences of the policies that were adopted from the 1830s to today regarding Native American Indians.
Curated OER
Discuss It
A key part of learning about different people and things is knowing how to have a constructive discussion in a respectful way. The class establishes a set of rules for their discussion and then begins a conversation about a wide array of...
Curated OER
Sacred Blade at Heart of School Dispute
Fifth graders read the Sacred Blade at Heart of School Dispute, a religious freedom story. In groups students create a mediation session to demonstrate the conflict in the story.
Curated OER
Living Through Fire
Students investigate the poverty found in Haiti. In this current events lesson, students research the noted Web sites to study Haiti's geography, history, and civil war.
Curated OER
Combating Corrosion
Study corrosion on bronze statues with a hands-on lesson. As pupils place a penny in water with salt, they observe the changes in the penny throughout a period of a week. They then analyze the pre-conservation and the...
Anti-Defamation League
Student Dress Codes: What's Fair?
The controversy over school dress codes continues. The debate involves questions like, why is there a policy? Who sets the policy? Who enforces the policy? What is a fair policy? Tweens and teens have an opportunity to engage in the...
Curated OER
Study History through Journal Keeping
Journal writing can be a fun way to bring history to life. Upper graders read a series of journals from the time of the westward expansion, specifically the pioneer journey along the Oregon Trail. They compose an ongoing journal from the...
Curated OER
The African Slave Trade: From West Africa to South Carolina and Beyond
Eighth graders explore the African slave trade. They identify the principal figures practicing the African slave trades at three locations. Students draw the physical routes of the slave trade on a map and they list the reasons for the...
University of Chicago
Ancient Egyptians and Death
What archaeological evidence remains of ancient Egyptian burial and mortuary practices, and what can this information tell us about ancient Egyptian society?
Curated OER
Letters From Santa
Seventh graders practice the use of word processing software and writing skills. They read letters to Santa from a second grade class and compose an answer that is grammatically correct. Afterward, they cut and paste, save the file to be...
Curated OER
Youth voters and election turnout
Students investigate why 18- to 24- year-olds have a low turnout at the polls. Students develop a plan to encourage young Americans to vote, or write a persuasive essay telling why they should vote.
Curated OER
Perspectives on September 11,2001
Fifth graders will learn about various perspectives around events. They will need to take on the perspectives of various key people during the September 11 attack. Then they will write in their journals about the incident. They read...
Curated OER
Preserving Our Barns
Students examine the different points of view when it comes to preserving barns. Using the internet, they work together to identify the risk involved in renovations and a barn in their local town that needs to be renovated. They create...
Curated OER
The Drafts of the Declaration of Independence
Seventh graders compare drafts of the Declaration of Independence. In this primary source analysis lesson, 7th graders access copies of Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the document and compare it the final document that gave birth...