Propaganda posters are powerful. Using images from The Art of War: American Poster Art 1941-1945 exhibit, young historians analyze the symbols, images, colors, and text used to rally support for World War II. Through seven activities,...

A pop-up video version of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech engages scholars in depending their understanding of the attack on Pearl Harbor. After watching the video, class members select five new things that they learned and research how...

Why did attackers on December 7, 1941, and on September 11, 2001, choose the targets they did? That is one of several questions young historians try to answer as they compare and contrast the two attacks. They also consider the...

Young journalists learn that how we get our news and information matters in a collaborative social studies activity. The class is divided into three groups with the first analyzing a transcript of FDR's "Day of Infamy" speech, the second...

Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...

As part of a study of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, young historians imagine the feelings of those who lived during the attack by creating a word cloud of 10 words they think express the emotions of people at that time....

After listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech, young historians research information about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, possible motives for the attack, and the consequences of the attack. Scholars...

As part of a civil rights movement study, groups select an event from an interactive timeline that they feel marks a turning point in the struggle. After collecting evidence to support their choice, the teams develop a multimedia...

The debate over the integrity of stories in media is not new. Young journalists analyze historical sources that reveal freedom of the press controversies and draw parallels to challenges freedom of the press faces today. 

Breaking news reports can be short of facts. Young journalists select a pair of news articles about a disaster; one published within hours of the event and the second published the following day. They examine whether facts in the report...

Scholars examine front-page news stories to gather evidence about significant historical events. They hypothesize how these events changed people's lives who lived through them and how they continue to impact lives today.

After researching statistics about their community in local census reports, young journalists interview a resident about their interests and then analyze a local newspaper or homepage to see how similar the stories are to the residents'...

Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...

Be curious! Seek out different opinions! Be conscious of your thinking process! After reading an article about confirmation bias and motivated reasoning, class members apply these strategies to the topic of school start times. They read...

Class members brainstorm a list of people in the news (immigrants, millennials, etc.). Teams then select one to research. Using the provided worksheet and guided by a list of questions, the teams examine the stereotypes in news reports...

Young journalists select a news story, editorial, or opinion piece that they disagree with or one that leaves them with questions. They then create their report in response and share it with the class.

Give it up for updraft towers. Pupils learn about solar updraft towers by first watching a video. They then research these structures on their own and think about how the toys they made in the previous lesson use the same scientific...

Get energized about all the different sources of energy. A research project has scholars investigate a renewable or non-renewable energy type of their choice. They write a report on their findings and decide on a way to publish their work.

After brainstorming a list of contemporary local, regional, and national civil rights issues, pairs of scholars select one of these issues and design an information campaign to spread awareness of the issue.

Young journalists investigate the various ways to share news about a disaster and evaluate the pros and cons of each of these types of news. Individuals then select two different forms of media reports of a recent disaster. Using the...

Journalists are supposed to adhere to a Code of Ethics. To determine the degree to which reporters follow this code, individuals select three recent stories with photographs from newspapers, magazines, online news sites, or television...

Scholars investigate events in the civil rights era in their community and develop a multimedia presentation of their findings. They compare local events with national events discussed on a NewseumED timeline.

Political candidates work hard at creating an image they believe will appeal to voters. High schoolers collect 10 photos and other images of a candidate and analyze them to determine what techniques create a positive or negative impression.

Unfortunately, fake news, fuzzy facts, and bogus news stories are not new phenomena. Class members use a "Fake News Through History" worksheet to analyze historical examples of false, invented, made-up news. Researchers share their...