Curated OER
Social Studies, Music, The Blues, Urbanization, and Technology
Enable students to use the blues to explore urbanization, technology, and their effects on everyday life in the 20th century. Musicians were among the large number of people who, between 1914 and 1945, participated in the Great Migration...
Curated OER
Walking Down Main Street: The Changing Times of a Railroad Town
Students explore the historic district via a scavenger hunt. In this community history lesson, students complete a scavenger hunt using historic postcards and clues as guides. Students create a timeline demonstrating changes of the area...
Curated OER
A New Red Menace?
Students research and analyze the current political situation of North Korea. They read and discuss an article, conduct research, participate in a simulation of an international round table, and write a response essay.
Curated OER
Turn of the Century Immigration
Students explore the immigration wave that hit the United States in 19th century. In this immigration lesson, students examine primary and secondary sources to determine what the immigration experience was like for new citizens. Students...
Curated OER
The Homestead Act of 1862
Students, in groups, study the Homestead Act. Each group studies a region of the country in the 1840s: the North, the South, and the West. Ask each group to research and write their region's position on the homestead issue.
Curated OER
Racial Violence in America: Lynchings, 1877 to 1920
Students are introduced to the concept of lynching as it took place in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through class discussion and a review of lynching photographs, students explore the reasons behind...
Curated OER
Fragment on the Constitution and Union (1861). The Purpose of the American Union
Eleventh graders examine how President Lincoln formulated the principles of the Declaration of Independence as the goal of the American Union. In this American Government instructional activity, 11th graders read and analyze...
Curated OER
Geothermal Energy in Latin America
Here is a wonderful series of lessons designed to introduce learners to the variety of renewable, clean energy sources used by people all over the world. Geothermal energy is the resource focused on. This particular sources of energy...
Curated OER
Lesson: Emphasis on Exaggeration
His ears, head, and designs are all an exaggerated form of art. Learners examine a South American sculpture in terms of how exaggeration was used to convey meaning. They then work through the design process as they create similarly...
Curated OER
The Era of Good Feelings
Setting the context for the first part of the 19th century, the slides presented here display the "Era of Good Feelings," including the presidencies of Monroe and Adams. Maps and photographs help students to contextualize the concepts of...
Curated OER
"Police Action": The Korean War, 1950-1953
Students investigate facts about the war in Korea in the 1950's and attempt to classify American foreign policy as a triumph or a failure. Why the U.S. became involved and the unpopularity of the war in America forms the focus of this...
Curated OER
Witch Hunt or Red Menace? Anticommunism in Postwar America, 1945-1954
Students investigate what constitutes an "un-American" activity and why Soviet espionage was such an important issue in the 1940's and 1950's. Joseph McCarthy's impact on American anticommunism is examined in this instructional activity....
Mr. Nussbaum
Fort Sumter Reading Comprehension
The Battle of Fort Sumter was both the first and the least deadly battle of the American Civil War, with no soldiers lost during the lengthy bombardment. Learn more about the first shots of the Civil War with a short reading passage and...
Curated OER
The Railroads and Settlement of the Great Plains
Enhance your American literature unit with this resource, in which readers access the Nebraska Studies website and read about "Railroads and Settlement." They search for a photograph of some aspect of the railroad from the Prairie...
Curated OER
Character Nichos
This art lesson also incorporates a study Mexican and South American cultures and art. Students then create Nichos, which are small, decorated boxes commonly found in homes and public places, or displayed on walls or pedestals.
Teaching for Change
A Documents-Based Lesson on the Voting Rights Act
How did the Voting Rights Act affect the daily lives of American citizens? A document-based lesson developed by the Student Non-Violent Coordinating committee (SNCC) presents a case study of the impact of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on...
Curated OER
Anishinabe - Ojibwe - Chippewa: Culture of an Indian Nation
Young scholars investigate the American Indian tribe of the Chippewa. They identify the different names of the Anishinabe/Ojibwe/Chippewa nation, conduct a research project, explore various websites, and present their group research...
Curated OER
Revolutions in Latin America (19c - Early 20c)
The history of the Latin American revolutions - and the philosophies behind them - is the focus of this comprehensive presentation. From the theories of the European Enlightenment, to the Revolutionary Wars of America and France, Latin...
US National Archives
Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan
How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research...
University of California
The Civil War: Effects of the Civil War
Imagine being on the front line of the Civil War —from the front porch of your own house. Scholars use visual evidence from primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of the Civil War on all Americans. They examine the research...
Tennessee State Library & Archives
Vietnam War
A picture can speak 1000 words. Scholars research the Vietnam War through the lens of a camera. Examining photos from the collection of Christopher D. Ammons allows open interpretation of life during one of America's darkest conflicts....
Curated OER
"Whose (Is)land is This?": topics in Immigration and The Tempest
Class members compare the ways the subject of immigration is treated in The Tempest, Act I, scene ii, Act II, scene i and Act III, scene ii with patterns in American history. After tracing their own family’s journey, a series of...
K12 Reader
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
After reading a short passage about Japan's involvement in World War II and why the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, readers are asked to analyze how the attack effected the attitudes of Americans who previously had not wanted to go...
Curated OER
Chapter 35: Labor-Market Issues - Unionism, Discrimination, and Immigration
A discussion on American unions, employment discrimination, and collective bargaining transitions into a larger conversation about the workforce. A graph that details the amount of immigrants from various countries will surely get your...