Curated OER
Pass It Down
Pupils in varying grades work cooperatively to create a living museum of items that have been "passed down" through generations. They give a brief oral presentation showing their object (or a picture of it) and describing its history and...
Curated OER
How Did the Other Half Live?
Students study the conditions under which immigrants lived. They determine what it means to make it in America. They observe the connection between immigration and unionization and how immigration changed the City of New York. They...
Curated OER
Make Your Own Presidential Museum
Students create presidential presentations. In this presidential lesson, students research a president and create their own museum presentation for that president. They create a script or brochure and make costumes.
Curated OER
Milestones of Flight
Discover seven of the most historic aircraft and spacecraft in the collections of the National Air and Space Museum. By research into the major milestones of aviation history your students will recognize features that enable flight,...
Curated OER
Historic Cemeteries: "History Written in Stone"
Students explore the history of their community through researching grave markers. They visit a local cemetary, partcipate in a cemetary scavenger hunt, conduct a survey for various graves, and write an essay describing their cemetary...
Speak Truth to Power
Elie Wiesel: Speaking Truth to Genocide to Power
Invite your learners to discover the efforts of Night author Elie Wiesel to promote awareness of genocide in the world. After watching and reading an interview of Elie Wiesel, high schoolers work to create a living Holocaust museum by...
Curated OER
The Carlyle House and Gadsby Tavern
Fourth graders identify places and things in Alexandria that probably did not exist when the Carlyle House was first built and identify places and things that probably did exist when the Carlyles lived in the house.
National WWII Museum
Dear Mother: Synthesizing Historical Evidence
It's one thing to read history, it's another to live it. Pupils examine secondary and primary sources that detail the training of soldiers before deployment. Then, they consider the impact of primary sources on how they understand the...
National WWII Museum
Rationing by the Numbers: Quantitative Data as Evidence
What was it like to live on wartime rations in the United States during World War II? Young historians find out by exploring how those on the home front bought food thanks to the ration system. Other data includes statistics on car sales...
Curated OER
Comparing Kwakiutl, Cheyenne and Navajo tribes
Third graders study the difference between the Kwakiutl, Cheyenne and Navajo tribes. They identify the people, resources, lifestyle and beliefs of the Kwakiutl, Cheyenne, and Navajo Indians. Afterward, they present their projects on each...
Teacher Web
Otzi: The Iceman Worksheet
Learners work together to research and present their findings on the 20th century archaeological phenomenon of Ötzi the Iceman! This is a well-organized worksheet that guides class members through researching the story of the find,...
Curated OER
Creating a North Carolina Gallery
Eighth graders, in teams, create a new North Carolina Gallery at the North Carolina Museum of Art. They explore the concept of citizenship by creating criteria for an artist's inclusion in the gallery.
American Museum of Natural History
Being an Archeologist: Chuck Spencer
Meet Chuck Spencer, an archeologist who studies the Zapotec people who lived in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico over 2000 years ago. Spencer shares in print his response to questions posed by kids.
American Museum of Natural History
Create Your Own Time Capsule
The corona virus pandemic is indeed a historic event. A time capsule activity permits young historians to document these days of social distancing, remote learning, and quarantine by collecting artifacts that capture what their lives are...
Education World
You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving
Students examine the facts and myths that surround the "First Thanksgiving" (the harvest celebration of 1621) at Plimoth Colony. They study the role that historians play in the collection and dissemination of history and use their...
Curated OER
Life and Art of Pablo Picasso
Art history projects can be a lot of fun. Budding art historians research the life, art, and times of Pablo Picasso, visit the local art museum, and create a multimedia presentation showcasing his art and personal history. Handouts,...
Smithsonian Institution
Voices of Bull Run
Soldier's lives are often a topic when studying the Civil War, but what about the lives of civilians? Scholars use the characters from the novel Bull Run to better understand the lives of those not directly on the Civil War battlefields....
Curated OER
Lesson: Ayman Ramadan: Koshary min Zamman
Examine the avant-garde movement and artists who explore the ideas of the Situationist. The class view imaged of Ayman Ramadan's installation pieces, learn about modern-day Egypt, and research other artist who use art to express social...
Brooklyn Museum
Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera
Study the unique storytelling brought to life by Norman Rockwell. Learners will examine some of his pieces and then engage in several activities that will help them see how images can be just like narratives. They'll answer questions...
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
Military Advisers in Vietnam: 1963
How did the beginning of the Vietnam War factor into the Cold War with the Soviet Union? As part of a study of American involvement in Vietnam, class members read a letter address to President Kennedy and his response in which he...
Curated OER
Immigration Project
Students visit Ellis Island Immigration Museum (as a field trip or a virtual visit) and pretend to be Italian immigrants to the United States. They write a journal entry detailing their first week in the United States. They interview an...
American Museum of Natural History
Making a Field Journal
Trowels and brushes are certainly important tools for an archaeologist working on a dig. Perhaps more important, however, is the archaeologist's field journal. Christina Elson, an archaeologist working with the American Museum of Natural...
American Museum of Natural History
Up Close With a Zapotec Urn
If a Zapotec urn, buried for over a thousand years in a temple in the lost city of Xoxocotlan in the Valley of Oaxaca in the mountains of southern Mexico could talk image the stories it could tell. That's the set up in a clever resource...
Curated OER
Benjamin Franklin: Goods and Services in Colonial America
Fifth graders examine the impact of Benjamin Franklin's ideas on the goods and services available in Colonial America as well as analyze the importance of Franklin to modern society. While listening to "How Ben Franklin Stole the...