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Back to the Future

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students imagine what it would be like to travel back in time. In this creative writing instructional activity, students watch parts of the film Back to the Future and examine artifacts from the past. Students write a short story in...
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National Road to Indiana

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore the National Road to Indiana. In this U.S. highway history and primary source research lesson, students read an original journal written by Jane Voorhees Lewis in 1806 describing her trip west on the first federally...
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What Would They Have Said? A Role Playing and Interview Activity

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students study Canadian constitutional documents and historical figures. They play an historical figure in an interview. Students answer questions about the events and documents in which they played a role.
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Historians Interpret Sources

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students read excerpts from the historian Conover Hunt writing about John F. Kennedy and from primary source documents using the handout: Historical Sources and Historians. Students discuss and identify source types, evaluate sources,...
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Causes of Death in the 19th Century

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Learners analyze historical data. They explore the context in which it was created. They develop skills in historical analysis.
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Attitudes About Slavery in Franklin County, Pennsylvania

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the historical attitudes towards slavery in Pennsylvania. They read transcriptions from two Pennsylvania newspapers and compare/contrast the county's Republican and Democratic Parties' positions on slavery.
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Is All Fair In War?

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students read the 1755 Bounty Proclamation and discuss what happened in Maine during this time period. With a partner, they use the text and dictionary to look up any word they do not know. They participate in a think, pair, share to...
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Consumer Culture in the 1950s: New Shopping Centers and Advertising trends

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders analyze the cultural and social aspects of the 1950s. Using primary source documents, they work together to determine what society was like. They use that information to write an essay about how their information...
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Faces of the Bench

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners use primary source documents to gather information on justices in the Michigan Supreme Court. They write about the thoughts and experiences of the author. They identify and describe each justice briefly.
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New England Colonials: John Stebbins and Ebenezer Wells (1691-1758)

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders learniabout life in Deerfield during growth period through the examination of artifacts and documents of Stebbins and Wells.
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Declaration of Independence

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students research the Declaration of Independence and write a group paper. Students use a set of designated questions as a guide for the threee to four page paper.
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Predicting the Past

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners study how archaeologists record the past. They discuss archaeology and artifacts. They view a list of artifacts discovered by Marquette at the Illinois Village and answer questions regarding them. They complete a test about...
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All Men Are Created Equal

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers discuss the statement "All Men Are Created Equal". Using the internet, they research events in history in which this statement has been ignored and supported by the government. They use this information to write an essay...
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A Timeline of Aboriginal Treaties in Canada

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Using guiding questions, students analyze various treaties signed in Canada over the years between aborigines people and the Canadian government. Students later present their findings to the whole class in a creative fashion.
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Hydraulic Mining Offline Lesson

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Young scholars utilize a variety of source materials to explore reasons for supporting or opposing hydraulic mining. A mock court hearing is held where a decision to allow the continued use of hydraulic mining is made.
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Wright Brothers Centennial: North Carolina, Creation and Development of the State

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders examine technological advances and how they influenced the quality of life in North Carolina. Using maps, they locate the city of Kitty Hawk and discuss why it was chosen for the first flight. They read primary source...
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Gather Your Own Oral History

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students investigate the concept of oral history. They read chapter 10 of a history text that is provided through the school and the teacher should search for a text to provide the background knowledge. Students define and practice the...
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This Guilty Land

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the time period just before the start of the Civil War. They focus on John Brown, an activist of the day. After a lecture/demo, students use a worksheet imbedded in this plan to further their understanding of the man and...
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QUILT SHARING

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students share in the family histories of their peers as told through the quilt stories, and apply math skills by using invented strategies to determine the (approximate) age of the quilt from the information given about the date it was...
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Aerospace Engineering

For Teachers 12th
Twelfth graders examine the physics of rocket flight. They build and launch model rockets to measure their performances.
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Social Studies: Jeffeerson and the Declaration

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars investigate Thomas Jefferson's intentions for the Declaration of Independence. In discussion, they consider what parts of the document are most useful today and to what purposes does it address the most. Finally,...
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Revisiting Pocahontas

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss the characteristics that make a historical resource reliable. As a class, they brainstorm a list of examples of possible historical resources and why they are important. In groups, they discover the consequences of...
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Investigating the Cuban Perspective

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine different perspectives on the events during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Using the internet, they research the Cuban perspective on the issue and discover the need for empathy in a situation like this. They use primary...
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Activity 10: Primary and Secondary Sources

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Learners sort documents into primary and secondary sources and analyze their reliability. In this history research lesson, the teacher gathers a selection of document images, then discusses primary and secondary sources and their benefits.