The New York Times
Crossing the Line Online: Sexual Harassment and Violence in the Age of Social Media - NYTimes.com
Sexual harassment and sexual violence are by no means new issues. What has changed is the role of social media in these issues. This powerful and troubling lesson plan uses a specific rape case to launch research into a discussion of the...
American Documentary
The Benefits and Drawbacks of Plea Bargains
The outcome of 90 percent of criminal cases in the US is determined by plea bargains. Clips from the documentary Better This World create the backdrop for an investigation of the benefits and drawbacks of the plea bargaining process....
Harry S. Truman Library & Museum
Marshall Plan: Convince the American People
This is an excellent resource for US history classes, especially AP history. After learning some background on the Marshall Plan, the class, divided into two groups, researches opposing positions on this aid program. Groups read and...
The New York Times
Stress Less: Understanding How Your Mind and Body Respond to Anxiety
What could be more relevant to teens and preteens than experiencing stress? Use an article from the New York Times website to practice valuable Common Core skills for informational text reading, and also get a discussion going in your...
Curated OER
The Ethics of Outsourcing to China
After viewing clips from a documentary on factory work in China and US outsourcing, learners have a fishbowl discussion. They work in groups to build both personal points of view and strong arguments on the effects of outsourcing in...
Curated OER
Country's Music
Jazz, Blue Grass, Hip Hop, Swing. Gospel, R&B, Ragtime, Disco. So many music genres born in the USA. After reading an article about the fate of New Orlean's Jazz after Hurricane Katrina, class members investigate the life cycles of...
Project Tahoe
Does the Use of Torture on Enemy Combatants Violate the 8th Amendment?
Tackle ethics in your high school history classes with a Socratic seminar about torture as a means for obtaining information. The plan allows for pupils to take the reins during the seminar. On the first day, class members read several...
Common Sense Media
My Online Code
Approach ethical online behavior with a series of activities geared toward teaching pupils about digital citizenship. After a brief discussion about ethics, small groups inspect a fictional social networking profile with ethics in mind....
American Institute of Physics
The Physicist's War: Dr. Herman Branson and the Scientific Training of African Americans during World War II
The mobilization of soldiers for World War II resulted in a worker shortage in the defense industries, especially in the fields of physics and other sciences. The Engineering, Science, and Management War Training program (ESMWT) was...
PBS
Connecting Post-Civil War Mob Violence and the Capitol Hill Riot
Anti-democratic violence is not new in the United States. Learners watch videos and then compare and contrast the 1873 Colfax and the 1898 Wilmington massacres. They then watch a video about the Capitol Hill insurrection of 2021 and...
American Institute of Physics
The Physical Sciences at Women's Colleges
After a brief introduction to the history of women's colleges in the United States and a discussion of the resistance such institutions faced, young scientists investigate seven traditionally women's colleges and their physics programs....
American Institute of Physics
Eunice Foote: Scientist and Suffragette
The greenhouse effect and climate change are hot topics in today's news. Young scientists may be surprised to learn that the concept is not a new one. In fact, Eunice Newton Foote, scientist, inventor, and suffragette, discovered the...
American Institute of Physics
Women and the Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a massive undertaking involving multiple sites and thousands of scientists and technicians. To gain an understanding of the women who participated in the project, groups select an oral history of a woman...
American Institute of Physics
Physicist Activist: Dr. Elmer Imes and the Civil Rights Case of Juliette Derricotte
Elmer Imes was not only a brilliant physicist but also a civil rights activist. After an introductory lecture, groups read two articles about a traffic accident that killed one Fisk University student and injured several others. The...
American Institute of Physics
The Physical Sciences at Historically Black Colleges and Universities
The history of science instruction at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is the focus of a lesson that explores the early challenges these institutions faced in accessing equipment for their labs and instructors for...
American Institute of Physics
The Tuskegee Weathermen: African-American Meteorologists during World War II
Chances are good that young scholars have heard of the Tuskegee Airmen but few would predict that these pilots had their own support in the form of the Tuskegee Weathermen. These Black meteorologists were recruited and trained to provide...
American Institute of Physics
Meet Four Pioneering African American Astronauts
An out-of-this-world resource introduces young scientists to four African American astronauts: Michael P. Anderson, Ronald E. McNair, Guion S. Bluford Jr., and Jeanette J. Epps. Groups read biographies of these individuals and prepare...
American Institute of Physics
Historical Detective: Edward Alexander Bouchet and the Washington-Du Bois Debate over African-American Education
Young scientists meet Edward Alexander Bouchet who, in 1876, was the first African American to receive a PhD in Physics. This two-part lesson first looks at the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois about the type of...
American Institute of Physics
Dr. Gates and the Nature of the Universe
What do Russian nesting dolls have to do with physics? They make a great demonstration tool for explaining Dr. Sylvester James Gates, Jr.'s string theory to young scientists. A two-part lesson first introduces learners to Dr. Gates'...
American Institute of Physics
African Americans and Life in a Secret City
Imagine the lure of being offered a job at a secret site, working on a secret project, and earning higher wages! Such was the approach used to recruit African Americans to Hanford, Washington, one of several sites used to develop...
American Institute of Physics
African Americans in Astronomy and Astrophysics
A two-part instructional activity focuses on the contributions to the fields of astronomy and astrophysics of two African Americans: Benjamin Banneker and Dr. George Carruthers. In part one, scholars learn about Benjamin Banneker by...
PBS
Jackie Robinson's Complicated — and Important — Legacy
Americans tend to lock their heroes in history, holding these icons to a particular event or time. Jackie Robinson is such a hero, remembered by most for becoming the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. Young historians...
American Institute of Physics
African Americans and the Manhattan Project
A lesson about the Manhattan Project will explode young physicists' understanding of the racial attitudes in the United States during and after World war II. Groups select an African American scientist or technician that worked on the...
American Institute of Physics
African American Inventors in History
A two-part lesson introduces young historians to the work of famous African American inventors. Groups first research and develop a presentation of an inventor that includes biographical information and information about one of their...