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"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
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Gwendolyn Brooks
Students examine the contributions of the author Gwendolyn Brooks. They create a journal, read and discuss poems by Brooks, write a poem about themselves, and create a timeline of their own lives.
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Exploring Islamic Lands
Young scholars examine the lives of Islamic teens. In this global studies lesson, students explore selected Internet sites to discover the attributes of Islam, the cultural traditions of Islam, and information regarding Middle Eastern...
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Conservation at a Crossroads Lesson 1: What Is Conservation and Why Does It Matter?
Young scholars explore the concept of conservation. In this conservation lesson, students read articles and primary documents about the Conservation Movement in the United States and compare the movement to today's environmental...
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Jews and Blues
Students examine how American Jews affect music and entertainment. They identify problems between immigrants and their children. They relate the Jewish American issue to those of African Americans.
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Natural Disasters: Nature's Fury
Students explore the human experience. In this business ethics lesson, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the American natural disasters of the 19th and 20th centuries and the implications they presented.
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Integrated Social Studies and Math Lesson
Fourth graders study the American Civil War. They read and analyze information regarding the casualties of the Civil War, fucusing on Indiana soldiers. They graph the information and then write in their reflective journals responding...
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Cosmic Wheels
Students build a scale model of the Solar System and determine the time other planets take to travel around the Sun in comparison to the time of the Earth's revolution. The velocity of the planets are also determined in this lesson.
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Stop the Bus: Confronting Our Assumptions About Muslims in America
Learners explore Virginia Interfaith Center's A More Perfect Union "Misunderstanding" Ad Campaign, view two episodes of PBS America at a Crossroads series, examine historical context of colonialism and geo-political tensions in Middle...
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The New Deal: North Carolina's Reconstruction
Eighth graders study North Carolina's reconstruction through an interdisciplinary project that emcompasses social studies, language arts, visual art, music, and technology.
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The Civil War Through a Child's Eye
Students use primary and secondary sources to observe a child's view of the Civil war. In this Civil War lesson, students understand that different people had different perspectives on the war. Students recognize the...
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Separate is Not Equal
Middle schoolers use political cartoons and editorials to study Brown v. Board of Education. In this Brown v. Board of Education instructional activity, students read the background information on eight cartoons and editorials for a...
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Independent - To Be or Not Top Be - Day 1, Lesson 2: Scavenger Hunt
Fifth graders research the thirteen significant events that lead to the start of the American Revolution.
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Bringing the Past to the Present
Second graders work in pairs and read a primary source artifact. They create a PowerPoint slide that will be part of a "museum" presentation for the rest of their class. Students select artifacts from a group of digitalized artifacts...
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Inquiry and the Nature of Science
Students identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations, design and conduct a scientific investigation. They also use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze, and interpret data.
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Three Days at Gettysburg
Eighth graders discuss why the Battle of Gettysburg was important to the Civil War. In groups, they identify the major events of each day of the battle. They analyze how the battle changed the direction of the war and discuss the outcome.
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Challenges Faced by the New Nation's Presidents
Sixth graders, while in the computer lab utilizing the internet, locate primary sources to interpret and analyze the struggle of the new nation to gain the respect of European countries. They interact with a worksheet that organizes...
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National Congress of Neighborhood Women
Young scholars research and create a case study as an illustration of the different programs created by the National Congress of Neighborhood Women. Then they present their cases to the class and discuss.
Library of Congress
Oral History and Social History
Students examine the Great Depression. In this oral and social histories instructional activity, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in the 1930's.
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Twentieth Century Entertainment: When Work is Done
Students determine how Americans enjoy leisure time. For this 20th century America lesson, students research primary sources to study how Americans gained leisure time during the century and what they did with it.
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Bootleg Bytes
Students conduct background research to explore the positions of different groups involved in the digital piracy debate, then participate in a fishbowl discussion that seeks to find a consensus on the issue.
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Who Decides Who Dies?
Students explore various state laws concerning capital punishment and conduct a mock meeting of the United States Congress to set standards for the death penalty.
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Benjamin Franklin- Philanthropist
Students research and read a profile of Benjamin Franklin. In this philanthropic lesson, students research the projects of Benjamin Franklin and determine which were philanthropic, which were governmental and which were business...
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The World's Ten Greatest Inventions
Students review a list of important inventions from the last century and a half. They order the top ten inventions with an explanation accompanying their choices and then write a report on a selected invention.