Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Utopian Visions

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine Sir Thomas More's Utopian vision. In this philosophy lesson, students read Utopia and determine the pros and cons of Utopian societies. Students then create and present monologues of residents of the Utopia.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create Your Own Utopia

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify and examine the history of Utopian societies of the 19th century. They analyze the novel "The Giver" to determine whether this is a fair society or not. Students also examine the differences between Jonas' society and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Celebrating Modernism at the A Century of Progress World's Fair

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine aesthetic movement known as modernism, discover why organizers chose modernism as World Fair's design pattern, interpret photographs of modernist fair buildings and identify artifacts that reflect modernist ideas, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Perfect City

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students analyze group influences on people, events and culture. They design their own perfect society and report it to the class.
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

An Incredible Journey: Exploring Brave New Worlds

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners, after reading the novel, Brave New World, research in depth topics like the production and consumption of Henry Ford, Pavlov's and Skinner's behavioral science work, as well as the existence of Utopian and dystopian societies....
Interactive
Curated OER

The Age of the "Isms"

For Students 9th - 12th
In this online interactive world history worksheet, students answer 20 matching questions regarding government and society. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Zen Buddhism and Modern Utopia

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners work collaboratively to analyze the various religious beliefs of Zen Buddhists. Emphasis is placed upon class discussion and the ideal of a Utopian environment or society.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

War Time Propaganda: American Posters of the Great War

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Students identify propaganda related to World War and discuss its impact on society and research issues related to the American war effort between 1914 and 1918.
Unit Plan
Los Angeles Unified School District

Capitalism and Socialism

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Capitalism, socialism, communism ... these may seem like a whole bunch of isms to your scholars. High schoolers won't  confuse them after completing an informative resource. Your class masters how to use primary sources to...
Interactive
Curated OER

Utopia

For Students 8th - 12th
In this online interactive philosophy worksheet, students respond to 6 short answer and essay questions about Utopia by Sir Thomas More.
Website
National Library of France

National Library of France: Utopia : The Quest for the Ideal Society

For Students 9th - 10th
An online exhibit examining the history of utopia as revealed through story and art. Organized into four sections, "Utopia" takes viewers on a visual tour of utopian society has it has been interpreted by the ancients, in the bible,...
Website
Yale University

Beineicke Library: America and the Utopian Dream

For Students 9th - 10th
This exhibition documents the quest for utopian society through the literary works and manuscripts in the collection of Yale University's Beinecke Library, beginning with Thomas More's Utopia. With additional information on utopian...
Lesson Plan
Yale University

Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: Utopian Communities, 1800 1890

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site is a lesson plan for students to follow for an assignment dealing with Utopian communities but it does include some background on some of the various Utopian communities of the 19th century.
Website
Digital History

Digital History: Utopian Socialism

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at the Utopian communities that were attempted in the first half of the 19th century. They had differing reasons for their development, but their common focus was trying a unique way of communal living. Read about the Oneida...
Website
University of Washington

Digital Collections: Society and Culture Collection

For Students 9th - 10th
The Social Issues Collection is an image database of the Western United States and the Pacific Northwest region. The collection covers a variety of political and social topics, from women's issues, government, labor organizations such as...
Primary
Other

History of Economics: Robert Owen: "A New View of Society"

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource presents the complete text of a letter written by the famous social thinker and utopian theorist of the 19th century, Robert Owens.
eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Antebellum Communal Experiments

For Students 11th - 12th
Read this section of a chapter on "Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses" to identify similarities and differences among utopian groups of the antebellum era and explain how religious utopian communities differed from nonreligious ones.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Puritan and Quaker Utopian Promise

For Students 9th - 10th
This unit explores the documented perceptions of Native Americans, religious faiths, physical challenges of new lands and how the combination of immigrants and Native Americans shaped the New World. Click on "Activities" for related...
Handout
Other

Smith College: The Shakers

For Students 9th - 10th
This site has a good description of the Shaker movement. It talks about their way of life and contributions to society. It also contains a list of Shaker communities that existed at one time or another in the United States.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Utopias in America

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at the various Utopian communities established in the United States in the 1800s. Find out about the communities, their founders, and their demise.
Website
Other

Zca: History of Zoar Village

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief description of this Ohio communal society that persisted until 1898.
Handout
PBS

Pbs: The Shakers Timeline

For Students 9th - 10th
A good timeline showing the major events in the history of the religious group plus it also places them in the context of events around the world.
Website
Other

The Shaker Workshops: Who Are the Shakers?

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides links to a number of articles and essays on the history of the Shakers, their way of life, and their furniture making.
Handout
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Charles Fourier

For Students 9th - 10th
Read an excerpt from Fourier's 1820 book, "Theory of Social Organization," which explains his theory of communal work distribution that influenced a number of social experiments, including the Israeli kibbutzim.

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