Curated OER
Great American Families
Fifth graders wrote essays, interviewed family members, took photos of their activities, and tape recorded narration to accompany the photos.
Curated OER
Left-Handers Are All Right
Students examine how left-handed people function in a right-handed world using a web resource. They interview left-handed people to further understand the issue. They share the results of the interview with the whole class.
Curated OER
The Way to Work
Students make oral and/or written presentations describing results of interviews with professionals and their transit experiences traveling to the interviews.
Curated OER
Using Oral History to Understand Immigrant History
Pupils use oral history to comprehend how life chaned for men, women, and childern when they immigrated to the United States. Students conduct interviews with immigrants in an attempt to interpret hardships, lifestyles, careers, and...
Curated OER
My Town
Students research the history of their local community. They focus on interviewing skills and primary source analysis. They present the research information using a variety of creative techniques.
Curated OER
Watergate
Students discuss the primary events of the Watergate crisis. They conduct an interview with a Watergate-era adult and present a summary of their interview.
Curated OER
Writing Away For Information
Students review the format used to write a friendly letter which they will use to write an e-mail. They use questioning techniques as they write a letter of inquiry using a number of drafts. Using a word processing program they develop...
Curated OER
Radio Program #14-The Back to the Land Movement
Students identify the impact of the "Back to the Land" movement on the Appalachian area. They interview people who have moved back or know someone who has moved back to the Appalachian area. Students graph out profiles of "typical"...
Curated OER
Building Web Pages
Learners examine local community agencies and their contributions to the community. They create Web pages that profile the community agencies and their interviews with the volunteers.
Curated OER
Language Arts: Creating Original Fiction
Fourth graders create fictional stories and demonstrate the use of various writing techniques. After selecting their main ideas, they find appropriate graphics to use as illustrations. In groups, 4th graders apply Hyperstudio in...
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
As an introduction to the hypothesis and testing method of investigation, young history detectives engage in a special investigation of a family artifact. After watching a short video that demonstrates the method, they develop a...
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
Students analyze information from a variety of sources in order to create a hypothesis about the origin of an interesting family artifact.They create alternative hypotheses based upon available information to demonstrate that some...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Picturing a Story: Photo Essay about a Community, Event or Issue
Picture this. Class members follow in the footsteps of W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, and Lewis Hine by creating their own photo essay about a local event or issue.
Curated OER
Billy the Kid: Perspectives on an Outlaw
Learners examine the life of Billy the Kid. In this Westward Expansion instructional activity, students use Internet and print sources to research the contributions of gunfighters to the settlement of the American West.
Library of Congress
Oral History and Social History
Students examine the Great Depression. In this oral and social histories instructional activity, students analyze primary sources to develop an understanding of the America in the 1930's.
Curated OER
Journeying to Create
Show a video clip that descripes how taking a journey can change a person's outlook on life. Learners write a paragraph about a place that uses imagery and tone to create a specfic effect. They evaluate their journal entries as well.
Curated OER
All About Our Town
Pupils explore brochure writing. They work in groups to brainstorm and categorize important places in their community. In addition, they gather information from the Internet, take pictures using a digital camera, and create a community...
Curated OER
Rhetorical Devices in a Primary Source
Analyze Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous and powerful "I Have a Dream" speech as a primary source document. After reading up on rhetorical devices and working in small groups to define terms, class members identify and explain the use of...
Curated OER
Energy Efficiency Ambassadors
Students research energy conservation devices. They also create their own light efficiency project and presents their findings on science fair night.
Teach Engineering
Design Step 2: Research the Problem
How do you get started designing a product to meet your engineering design goals? Here, learners gain understanding of an important aspect of the engineering design process: background research. Through brainstorming and worksheets,...
Curated OER
The Photographs of Dorothea Lange
Students research social-documentary photography using Dorothea Lange’s documentary projects. In this photography analysis instructional activity, students analyze examples of photographs by Dorothea Lange and research one or more of...
Curated OER
Polar Day: Arctic Clean Up
Students explore the concept of pollution. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students examine primary sources to research the complexity of pollution and its effect on the Arctic.
Curated OER
Picturing a Story: Photo Essay About a Community, Event, or Issue
Students research Dorothea Lange's documentary projects and create their own photo essay about a subject. In this photo essay lesson, students analyze examples of social-documentary photographs of Lange. Students define a social...
Curated OER
Self Biography
Get to know your students with this project. Each individual writes an autobiography that is at least seven pages long with major facts, visual facts, focal stories, and chronology. The lesson plan includes a point breakdown for the...