Curated OER
Ulster-ior Motives
Students examine the creation of the Northern Ireland Assembly as an historic step in the peace process in Northern Ireland. They work in four small groups, each exploring the history and objectives of one of the parties in the new...
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Liberty, Equality, Uniformity?
Learners examine the French draft law to ban religious symbols from public schools. They research "secularist" and "pluralist" positions regarding this ban, debate the topic in class, and draft a position paper on the ban.
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For Richer or for Poorer
Students read about one cross-class marriage and create scenes to dramatize interactions among the family members and consider how class shapes relationships. They imagine the issues faced by cross-class couples by writing a short story.
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Trial By Wire
Students identify the arguments on both sides of the new Medicare policy debate over claim hearings. They participate in a mock trial to adjudicate the fairness of the new policy.
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Darwinist Dogma?
Students debate whether teachers should be mandated to present theories challenging evolution in their classrooms. For homework, they write letters to their local school board expressing their own opinions.
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Separation of Church and Class?
Students examine the changing socioeconomic status of the evangelical Christian population in the United States. They discuss the relationship between class and religion in American society.
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Whose Fate at the G-8?
Young scholars explore the 2005 Group of 8 Summit, investigating the member countries' views on the summit issues, as well as the views of the African Union and G-8 protesters. They offer predictions on outcomes of the summit given this...
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The World's Water Woes
Students discuss their community's water sources and assess the factors affecting the water availability and quality. They research water disputes around the world and explain common factors among them.
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Use Or Abuse?
Learners explain the meaning of "use value" of nature's resources by researching and writing studenT books personifying an aspect of nature. They produce public service announcements regarding use value for their local community.
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Relative History
Students explore theories about how the Olmec civilization influenced other Mesoamerican societies. They research the Olmecs to create a museum exhibit of their findings and reflect on how an Olmec person might have understood the...
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A Prescription for Drug Success
Students explore criticisms of the pharmaceutical drug industry. They also become aware of the difficult and lengthy process of testing new drugs by inventing fictional drugs and testing plans.
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A Disaster in the Making
Students compare the consequences of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco to Hurricane Katrina's impact on New Orleans as a basis for investigating the transformative effect of infamous United States natural disasters.
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Food Wars
Students investigate the debate whether schools should regulate the amount or type of food and drink students consume. They write and present position papers after reading an online NY Times article.
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Causes and Effects
Students investigate one family's volunteer tourism experience and the international volunteer organizations to create a community guide to helping those in need around the world.
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Time Changes Everything
Young scholars analyze census data from 1915, 1967 and 2006. They read an article about how the world's population is growing at an alarming rate. They use primary source documents to create a timeline on the information they gathered....
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Walking in Other People's Shoes
Students study the story of student journalist Casey Parks' September, 2006, journey to Central Africa with New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof. They then act as representatives to the tourism boards of developing countries and...
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Able Am I
Students read the article "Disabled Skier Designs His Way to Be a Daredevil." They discuss using the questions on the lesson plan. Students create large sized baseball cards featuring competitive, disabled athletes.
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Sacred Sites
Students read about the one-year anniversary of the bombing of the Mosque of the Golden Dome, or Askariya Shrine, in Iraq. They explore a number of other sites of religious significance to create designs for a geography Web site on holy...
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A Different World?
Students share their opinions in a brainstorming session on the factors that contribute to their quality of life. They read the article "Life Is Better; It Isn't Better. Which Is It?," from the NY Times and discuss the article as a...
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Going the Way the Wind Blows
Students examine the cause and effect relationship between geography and ancient civilizations. After reading an article, they determine how new findings can help scientists examine the migration patterns of these civilizations. Using...
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Talk About the Passion
Young scholars think critically about artistic freedom and evaluate the aims and effectiveness of censorship and education. They begin an investigation of the ongoing controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" by...
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Altered Genes
Learners describe the economic relationship between farmers, consumers, and food companies. They examine the issues regarding the reactions of consumers in this country and other countries to the use of gene-altered crops in food...
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Whose Peace?
Young scholars discuss the historical conflicts in Israel and the Middle East after reading an article from The New York Times as a class. Students are divided into groups after the discussion and research parties of interest in the...
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Rock Around the Map
Students research the geographical histories of various musical genres and make maps that note important places in music history. They Write geographical biographies about one of their favorite musical artists.