University of Chicago
Using Artifacts for Clues About Identity
Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...
PBS
Family History: Treasure Troves
It's time for show and tell! Scholars investigate historical artifacts to determine what secrets they reveal about the time periods they represent. They then research their own personal artifacts, as well as those from World War I.
BrainPOP
Famous Historical Figures Lesson Plan: Who Am I?
History detectives select a famous person to research, fill a bag with items associated with their subject, then ask class members to guess the historical figure represented by the artifacts.
Museum of the American Revolution
Historical Analysis: Objects Tell Stories
Dig this! Young archeologists discover what objects teach us about the past. The activity uses an image of a Revolutionary War artifact to help historians practice analyzing the past. Scholars study the object and complete a worksheet to...
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
King of Prussia Inn: Exploring Historic Places
Learners of any age examine the significance of historic sites, how we understand those sites, and what they mean in terms of history and the culture of the past. They look at maps, artifacts, and data taken from archaeological sites to...
Curated OER
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
Newseum
Media Mix-Ups Through History: Analyzing Historical Sources
Scholars use the E.S.C.A.P.E. (Evidence Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, Execution) strategy to analyze a historical source to determine why mistakes happen in news stories. They then apply the same strategies to contemporary flawed...
Curated OER
Preserving the Memory
Young historians explore ways to help preserve historic battlefields and artifacts. Designed for secondary scholars, the resource focuses on Civil War battlefields and the National Registrar of Historic Places Application. Pupils also...
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation
Artifacts Tell Stories: Creating a First World War Museum in the Classroom
Although designed for the Canadian War Museum, the concept here is a solid one. Class members select an artifact from the First World War, examine it, research it, and craft an explanative label that they attach to their picture and post...
Newseum
Weighing the Arguments
To understand how personal perspectives can affect policy and politics, scholars examine the woman suffrage media map and historical artifacts to analyze arguments for and against women's suffrage. Class members then take on the role of...
Curated OER
Basic Needs
High schoolers examine the unique and diverse historical artifacts that people have designed to fulfill their everyday needs in extraordinary ways. They identify ways humans have used design throughout history to enhance the ways they...
Curated OER
Forensic Examination of Artifacts: The Mystery of Meriwether Lewis' Death
Students role play the position of a scientist to gather information on Meriwether Lewis' death. They discover what he did after the famous expedition and how centuries affect the study of a body. They share their information with the...
Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary sources. In this Great Depression lesson plan, students read John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and use ethnographic research...
Curated OER
For the Record
Young scholars read a New York Times article in order to examine the importance of cultural artifacts. They create essays from the point of view of one cultural artifact to demonstrate the knowledge they gained by doing research.
PBS
Written in Stone
Students explore history through a tour of a local cemetery. Students investigate tombstones for historical information, make stone rubbings, and use this secondary source reference to obtain primary sources.
Society for Science & the Public
Easter Islanders Made Tools, Not War
When studying artifacts, especially tools, how do archaeologists determine what the devices were used for? In what ways might researchers' previous experiences influence their perception of an artifact? An article about researchers'...
PBS
Observation
Students study making scientific observations . They conduct a "field study" in their attic and make observations about their family artifacts based upon physical attributes. In addition, they determine what characteristics of an object...
Museum of the American Revolution
Object Observation: Purpose on a Powder Horn?
Young archeologists discover the significance of ordinary objects from the past in an interesting lesson on artifact analysis. The activity focuses on examining the image of a powder horn from the Revolutionary War to understand what it...
Museum of the Moving Image
Political Ads in Historical Context
Campaign ads target both timely issues and general themes. Presidential campaign ads from 1952 and 1988 provide class members an opportunity to compare how the topics ads choose to address can dramatically influence election outcomes.
Museum of the American Revolution
People of the Revolution
It's nothing new—America has always been a melting pot of cultures. The resource explores the diversity of individuals living in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War. Scholars examine artifacts and primary sources to...
Education World
A Walk Through The 20th Century
Students review the people, places, and events of a particular decade of the 20th Century. They write a report about that decade and create a booth of memorabilia, music, dress, pictures and other artifacts representing the time period.
US House of Representatives
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
New ReviewGroups select a photograph from one of the four eras of African Americans in Congress and develop a five-minute presentation that provides background information about the image as well as its historical significance. The class compares...
Curated OER
Protecting the Past: Give a Hoot, Don't Loot!
Students, in small groups, simulate an ancient civilization and the art they created, another group represents vandals, and the final group represents archaeologists who try to figure out what life was like for the "ancient peoples". ...
PBS
Civil War: Face Jug
Young scholars examine African American art. For this African American history lesson, students research face jugs created by African American freedmen after they watch a video about the artifact and its significance. Young scholars then...