+
Lesson Plan
Historical Thinking Matters

Social Security: 5 Day Lesson

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Did the New Deal fundamentally shift the role of the American government in the economy? Your class members will examine the interpretations of various historians in answering this question, and use a variety of primary and secondary...
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Recreation Yesterday and Today

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders research entertainment and recreation in the early 20th century using the American Memory collections and From the Hidewood: Memories of a Dakota Neighborhood, a book by Robert Amerson reflecting life in Deuel County,...
+
Lesson Plan
K20 Learn

Bavaria Has Issues...Experimental Components

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Do you want to be a detective by analyzing situations? An engaging instructional activity provides young historians with the tools to help them understand the difference between data types and how to analyze them to draw conclusions....
+
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Abigail’s War: The American Revolution through the Eyes of Abigail Adams

For Teachers 5th Standards
Four lessons, performed over four weeks, pay special attention to Abigail Adams. Fifth graders analyze primary and secondary sources, read texts, discuss and write about Adams' experience during the Revolutionary War—the Battle of Bunker...
+
Unit Plan
C3 Teachers

Anna - One Woman’s Quest for Freedom: What Did Freedom Mean for Anna?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The 2018 film Anna, One Woman's Quest for Freedom in Early Washington, D.C., offers high schoolers an opportunity to examine the sacrifices one woman endured to gain her freedom from slavery.
+
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Learning About The Past: Comparing Primary And Secondary Sources

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd Standards
Scholars find out how primary and secondary sources help us learn the past. Beginning with an anchor chart, class members discuss and write the differences between primary and secondary sources; a card sort is added to the anchor chart...
+
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

The Suffragist: Educator's Guide for Classroom Video

For Teachers 5th - 12th Standards
Class members take on the role of historical investigators to determine why it took 40 years for women in the United States to get the right to vote. Sleuths view videos and analyze primary sources and images to gather evidence to answer...
+
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Blue or Gray? Perspectives on the Civil War

For Teachers 8th Standards
Using primary and secondary sources, such as letters and diaries from soldiers and civilians, learners consider why people fought in the American Civil War. A role-playing Historical Mingle activity, as well as discussion questions and...
+
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

How Do We Remember and Honor the Contributions of Women in Public Space?

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Public art, especially monuments and memorials, are designed to celebrate and honor those who have made significant contributions to a community or even an entire nation. Here's a lesson that asks scholars to consider who is represented...
+
Lesson Plan
American Institute of Physics

Historical Detective: Edward Alexander Bouchet and the Washington-Du Bois Debate over African-American Education

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
+
Activity
University of California

Jewish Holidays

For Teachers 6th Standards
Modern Jewish holidays have ancient roots with many connections to today. Using photographs of primary sources, such as fragments of a shofar, as well as texts, such as the Hebrew Tanakh, learners explore how Jewish holidays reflect...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
Facebook

Versions of Media Texts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Verification of provenance and the original source of an image or video can be a long and winding process. Young journalists learn about the difficulty of finding the original source of a scrape, a copy of an original news story, and...
+
Unit Plan
Simon & Schuster

A Teacher's Guide to 1776 by David McCullough

For Teachers 9th - 12th
David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 1776, is the focus of a 28-page teacher's guide. The guide includes pre-reading questions, background information about key British and American figures, and chapter-by-chapter lessons.
+
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Feminist Philosophers of the 20th Century

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Reclaim forgotten philosophers of the twentieth century. Feminist philosophers have shaped our current concepts of politics and gender, but they are seldom mentioned in the classroom. Change that omission with a lesson plan that includes...
+
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Helen Keller--Citizen and Socialist

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Do history books tell the full story of Helen Keller? The sanitized version of Helen Keller found in most textbooks leaves out her most provocative ideas. She was a socialist, fought for workers' rights, and advocated for the use of...
+
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Unsung Voices: Black Women and Their Role in Women's Suffrage

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Reclaim perspectives often left out of the narrative about the suffrage movement with an activity that lifts up the voices of African American women. Using primary sources and biographical details of Fannie Barrier Williams' life, young...
+
Unit Plan
Crabtree Publishing

The Genius of the Ancients

For Teachers 5th Standards
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Fifth graders prove this with help from three lessons that examine how ancient cultures used their needs to drive innovations. In lesson one, pupils identify main ideas and supporting...
+
Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

A Day for the Constitution

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The "Constitution Day and Citizenship Day" law requires schools receiving any federal funding to provide educational programming on the history of the American Constitution. The lesson plans, materials, videos, questions, and activities...
+
Lesson Plan
1
1
C-SPAN

Primary and Secondary Sources: Trailblazers in Congress

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Trailblazers forge the path into uncharted territory, they establish a precedent for others to follow. Young historians research trailblazers in Congress using primary and secondary sources to profile outliers that changed the face of...
+
Lesson Plan
American Battlefield Trust

Joshua Chamberlain Lesson Plan

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
While Joshua Chamberlain's name is not as iconic as Abraham Lincoln or Robert E. Lee, he still played a pivotal role in the military engagements of the Civil War. Using two secondary sources—including one that draws heavily from his...
+
Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Defying British Rule: Women's Contributions to The American Revolution

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Primary and secondary sources are the focus of a lesson that showcases the important role women played during the American Revolution. Pairs review sources and discuss their findings. A close-reading of an informational text leads the...
+
Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

American Indians and their Environment

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
People could take a page in ingenuity and survival from the Powhatans. Deer skins became clothes, and the members of the Native American group farmed the rich Virginia soil and hunted in its forests for food. Using images of artifacts...
+
Assessment
1
1
New York State Education Department

Global History and Geography Examination: January 2011

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Using primary and secondary sources—including classics such as the Communist Manifesto—class members consider the effects of these ideas on the course of history. Another essay prompt explores geography and history, while multiple-choice...
+
Assessment
New York State Education Department

US History and Government Examination: August 2010

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Geography has played a complex role in America history. The Atlantic Ocean has served as a buffer to protect the United States from European Wars, but its proximity to Cuba, however, left it vulnerable to nuclear war during the Cuban...