19th Century South America Lesson Plans

Students examine the larger social, political and economic issues that influenced the first Asians' migration to the Americas in the 18th and 19th centuries. They distinguish between commonly held assumptions about the first Asians in the Americas and the more historically accurate version.

Students investigate what life was like on early 19th century ships. They participate in a Webquest, explore the website for the movie, 'Master and Commander,' watch movie excerpts, take an interactive tour of a ship, and answer discussion questions.

Students share what they know about the condition of women in the 19th century and about some of the jobs that were available to them. They pool their knowledge and create a poster or chart to display their findings.

Students complete a variety of activities as they examine the historical significance of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Golden Spike Ceremony in Promontory, Utah, which honored its completion. In one activity they plan and recreate a grander, more appropriate Golden Spike ceremony.

Students explore South African history from pre-colonial times to today. They create a timeline of important events in South African history and reflect on connections between this timeline and the existence of tribal traditions in the country.

Students explore past U.S.-Cuban relations, by researching key events in the past century and creating a class timeline, in order to evaluate restrictions in policy on Cuba and the potential for exhibition baseball games.

Learners research the origins of various clothing items to their agricultural sources. They look for the countries of origin on the labels of the clothes they are wearing. They locate the countries on a world map and list the countries on the chalkboard.

Students use the powers of the Internet to discover some of the secrets to the continent of Africa. In this African studies lesson plan, students gain an understanding of contemporary African culture from a female perspective. Students identify similarities and differences between contemporary Africa and their culture as they confront stereotypes of African women and children/teens.

Learners investigate the sinking of the Titanic. In this analyzing sources lesson, students read actual documentation from the Titanic and answer questions. Learners draw conclusions from the pictures they see and information they read.

Young scholars explore the California Gold Rush.  In this U.S. history Gold Rush lesson, students view and analyze a number of authentic documents that originated during the California Gold Rush.  Young scholars identify images that reflect the Gold Rush culture in a watercolor, discuss spelling and grammar errors in a letter written during that period, and infer historical information by discussing the content of a number of documents.