Curated OER
African Americans in Aviation: The 1940s- A Decade of Change
Learners investigate African Americans in aviation. In this primary resources instructional activity, students examine primary resources to research the history of African American in aviation. Learners answer two research questions and...
Curated OER
Education, Design & Empowerment: Part One
Students consider the connection between poverty and education. In this language arts and social studies lesson plan, students research primary and secondary sources in order to explore the relationship between education and poverty.
Curated OER
Letters from the Japanese American Internment
Students delve into primary research. For this Japanese Internment lesson plan, students make deductions about life in an internment camp by reading and comparing letters written to Clara Breed. Along the way, they consider the...
Curated OER
Signature History
Students review the meaning and application of primary and secondary sources in research. They determine how researchers locate primary source documents before looking at signatures as a validating factor on many primary sources....
Curated OER
Death and Dying in Puritan New England: A Study Based on Early Gravestones, Vital Records, and other Primary Sources Relating to Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Students examine the time in which the Puritans lived in colonial New England. In groups, they research the Puritans view on life and death and discuss as a class. They read gravestones, diaries and other primary sources to discover...
Curated OER
We Are History: Family Stories
Learners examine their own family heritage and share family stories with the class. They differentiate between primary and secondary sources, and bring in and write about three artifacts from their family. They conduct an interview...
Curated OER
Holes
Students distinguish between primary and secondary sources when researching on the Internet and evaluating historical records. They recognize important features of a primary source such as the type of document, who created it, what is...
Curated OER
Forced to Flee: Famine and Plague
Students examine facts about the Irish Potato Famine and explore primary resources, such as newspaper articles, photographs, songs, and poems, related to the famine. Once research is complete, they create a small collage of their...
Curated OER
The American Revolution: An Electronic Field Trip
Students examine basic facts of American Revolution, conduct Internet research to explore major events, choose topic and evaluate data, and write letters to or from fictitious person who could have been involved in that event during...
Curated OER
Brutal British
Students read and predict the outcome of a story set during the Civil War, then map the story. To prepare for the activity, students determine why it is important to look at historical events from all angles by using primary and...
Curated OER
Analyzing Media Literacy
Fifth graders define propaganda, evaluate World War II propaganda posters to analyze media literacy, complete War Poster Analysis worksheet, and create and share their own propaganda posters containing subject matter pertaining to war in...
Smithsonian Institution
For Land's Sake: George Washington as Land Surveyor
Students discuss the importance of land ownership and the purpose of land surveying in the eighteenth century. They interpret a transcript of an eighteenth-century land survey. They survey and area of land. They create a written or...
Curated OER
Using Primary Source Documents in the Classroom
Students use primary documents to explore the past. They consider the source of the documents and identify and biases that the author may have held. They identify any questions about the historical event that may remain after reading the...
Curated OER
Family History
Fourth graders identify primary source items in the study of their families. They relate the importance of primary source materials in understanding history and events of the past.
Curated OER
Ancient Tablets, Ancient Graves: Accessing Women's Lives in Mesopotamia
High schoolers explore the role of women in ancient Mesopotamia. Several excerpts from the Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets and artifacts are analyzed to determine the treatment, rights, and powers of women in this era.
Curated OER
What Is a Primary-Source Document?
Students discover what a primary-source document is, what different types there were back in 1867, and what newer kinds there are today. They play a form of bingo using printed cards that reproduce documents related to Confederation.
Curated OER
A Letter Read 'Round the World
Students examine primary document to examine the concept of free assembly, and analyze Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's letter to the clergy to explain the rationale for this tactic to advance civil rights.
Curated OER
Trouble in the Fields: Mexican Migrant Workers
Students become curators and museum reviewers for an online gallery using a selected group of primary sources on Mexican migrant workers. They share and reflect on their own and each other's ideas though participation in an on-line...
Curated OER
D-day Message from General Eisenhower to General Marshall
High schoolers analyze a "top secret" document written by Eisenhower. They identify and chart cliches for those about to go into battle and read related poetry. They invite a veteran to describe the D-Day invasion.
Curated OER
Soldiers' experiences with medicine and hospitals in the Civil War
Young scholars explore medicine and hospitals during Civil War using primary sources.
Curated OER
Jobs in Jamestown
Young scholars research occupations of Jamestown settlers using census data, and evaluate the data to show the needs and activities of the colony.
Curated OER
Burning Washington: Dolley Madison's Historical Letter
Students review and discuss War of 1812, analyze the taking of Washington and the personal feelings of Dolley Madison by reading and discussing her famous letter to her sister, and respond to Dolley Madison in a one or more page letter...
PBS
Primary Sources
Students see how to use primary and secondary sources to investigate history. Whether it is a photograph, book, map, letter, postcard, newspaper, or official document, students can use sources to reconstruct and relive history.