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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Empire Intelligence Briefings

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
To trade or not to trade. Young diplomats put their country's best foot forward in a series of briefings for other countries about their nations. The goal is to persuade others to engage in diplomacy and trade. Using a previous lesson...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Learning about Early Modern Era Empires

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
You are a diplomat during the Age of Empire: prepare a briefing about your country. Young scholars take on the challenge using a role-play exercise to examine various empires during the rise of global interconnectedness. Materials...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Chronicling and Mapping the Women's Suffrage Movement

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
While women's suffrage is often believed to be the result of a single constitutional amendment, the effort of women to secure the vote spanned decades and continents. Using primary sources in online archives, class members explore the...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!: Simulating the Supreme Court

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Students have freedom of speech—or do they? Using an actual court case and research materials on the Supreme Court, young legal scholars examine the Supreme Court's role and history. Then, they argue a case the court declined to hear and...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching Tolerance

Critiquing Hate Crimes Legislation

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The high school lesson explores what hate crimes are and how the government has responded to those crimes. Academics read legislation, analyze political cartoons, and complete hands-on-activities to understand what motivates individuals...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

“From Time to Time”: Presidents and Communicating with the Public

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
While the Constitution requires a "State of the Union" address, it doesn't give many details. In fact, it wasn't until Woodrow Wilson that the periodic update to Congress was given in-person. Using primary sources, recordings and...
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Lesson Plan
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Nemours KidsHealth

Media Literacy and Health: Grades 9-12

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
An essential skill for 21st-century learners is to know how to find reliable sources of information. Two activities help high schoolers learn how to determine the reliability of health-related news from websites, TV, magazines, or...
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Lesson Plan
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Nemours KidsHealth

Water Safety: Grades 9-12

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Make a big splash with a lesson about water safety. After reading three articles related to water safety, high schoolers first choose one water safety rule to research and write a report summarizing their findings. They then use an...
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Lesson Plan
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Nemours KidsHealth

Germs: Grades 9-12

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Beware the bugs! Two activities engage high schoolers in the study of germs, what they are, what they do to the body, and what can be done to prevent them from spreading. After reading a series of related articles, groups create a...
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Lesson Plan
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Nemours KidsHealth

Sportsmanship: Grades 9-12

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The increasing number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, red cards, and ejections from games points out the need for activities that help young people recognize behaviors that exemplify good sportsmanship. For homework, class members...
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Interactive
PBS

PBS Electoral Decoder

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Imagine being able to explore all the presidential elections from 1789-2016! Being able to examine the key events, how the states voted, and the importance of the Electoral College in each of the elections! A PBS cartogram makes all this...
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eBook
NASA

The Saturn System Through the Eyes of Cassini

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Get a close-up view of Saturn. Pupils read a NASA eBook filled with images of the Saturn system, including the rings and moons of Saturn along with images of the planet itself. Learners become familiar with the planet's system as they...
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Lesson Plan
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Facing History and Ourselves

Defining Freedom

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the Confederate states. The Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery in the United States. However, neither document defined freedom. The second lesson in the Reconstruction Era series examines...
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Lesson Plan
Teaching for Change

Stepping into Selma

For Teachers 6th - 12th
The 1964 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama voting rights marches are the focus of a lesson designed to introduce learners to people who took part in the Civil Rights Movement. Class members set into the role of one of the participants,...
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Activity
iCivics

Students Power Elections

For Students 9th - 12th
A Students Power Elections resource guide provides would-be voters with the guidance they need to become voters. Included in the packet is information about voter registration and voting, how to research candidates and ballot measures,...
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Lesson Plan
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C-SPAN

How A Bill Becomes A Law

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Seven steps are required for a bill to become a United States law. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (H.R. 6201) is used as a model for the process of how a bill becomes a law.  Class members work independently through a Google...
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Lesson Plan
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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...
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Lesson Plan
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C-SPAN

Supreme Court Justices Research and Resumes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
According to Article III, Section1 of the United States constitution, the only qualification one needs to be appointed to the Supreme Court is to demonstrate "good behavior." The president and Congress are given the power to determine...
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Lesson Plan
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Write an Election Day Letter

For Teachers 9th - 12th
For some, getting to the polls to vote is no easy task. Voting may mean needing to choose between a job and civic duty. But what if Election Day was a national holiday? After reading an article about the pros and cons of designating...
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Lesson Plan
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Meta-Study: Political Brains

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Are there differences in the brains of liberals and conservatives? That is the question young political scientists are challenged to answer. Class members examine studies, consider how the results are presented, and how the studies were...
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Lesson Plan
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Get out the Vote Campaign

For Teachers 9th - 12th
While some of your students may be too young to vote, they can get involved in the election process by creating a nonpartisan campaign encouraging voter registration. After researching how to register to vote, class members design PSAs,...
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Lesson Plan
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Impeachment Explainer

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Andrew Johnson (1868) Bill Clinton (1998) and Donald Trump (2019) were impeached by the House of Representatives. To demonstrate their understanding of the impeachment process, individual create their own "Impeachment Explainer." Writers...
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Lesson Plan
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Election Topic Deep Dive

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Researchers go beyond the surface of an election issue to craft an objective report on the history of the issue, factors surrounding the issue, and factors in a candidate' biography that may influence a candidate's position on the issue....
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Lesson Plan
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Encyclopedia Britannica

Candidate Reflection Essay

For Teachers 9th - 12th
After writing about which of the 2020 presidential candidates the class has researched most closely represents their ideas, young political scientists take a 2020 Presidential Election Candidate Quiz to determine what candidate they in...