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.

Students examine primary source material of the Depression to correlate the fictional text "Out of the Dust" with actual visual, auditory, and manuscript accounts as found in the American Memory collections.

Seventh graders examine and discuss photographs and paintings of the Dust Bowl era. They write a journal entry describing what it would be like if they stepped into one of the photographs, and create a Powerpoint presentation on the Dust...

Eleventh graders explore the origins of the Prohibition Movement in the United States. In small groups, they analyze the influence of World War I in the passage of the eighteenth amendment. Students explain how different demographics of...

Following the 2008 financial crisis in the United States, why did fiscal policymakers increase government spending and reduce taxes? Discover the motivation behind these actions and learn about the separate functions of monetary and...

Students investigate that labor unions recruited more workers to join their ranks during the Depression, and speculate as to why this growth occurred when it did. They research the impact of federal legislation of the New Deal (esp. the...

Students examine the reasons why people leave their country to live in another. In groups, they use print and electronic resources to answer questions about where immigrants came from during different time periods and advice given to...

In this Pearl Harbor activity, students read about what happened on December 7th, 1941, read Roosevelt's speech in response, and complete activities in the passive voice about what they read. Students write the past participle of 10...

Young scholars explore the Swing Era and its implications. They answer questions and listen to music from the era.

Students examine the contribution of Andrew Higgins to WWII. They watch a video about Andrew Higgins and the Normandy invasion, answer questions about the video, and write an obituary for Andrew Higgins.

Students discuss how they get information on important events or activities that occur in the national government today. They evaluate the New Deal, utilizing document analysis worksheets imbedded in this plan.

Fourth graders study a decade in history through its slang. They analyze a slang dictionary from the 1920's and read a primary source letter making use of the slang. They decipher the language and compare and contrast 1920's language...

Learners learn vocabulary associated with the Swing Era. They also listen to music from the time period.

Students describe how artists painted American farms in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They identify idealized, nostalgic, and realistic views of farming through discussion, bringing into play their own knowledge of farms today.

Students read and discuss the book, Esperanza Rising. After analyzing and identifying the novel's structural elements, they examine working conditions for migrant workers in the 1930s. As part of the lesson, students in groups choose...

Fifth graders examine primary sources to explore the events leading to World War II. In this World War II lesson, 5th graders  develop questions and research answers from information found in primary documents. Students view a video...

Tenth graders use video and the Internet to compare runaway teenagers of the 1930s with runaways today. The lesson uses the integration of technology in order to build skills and conduct research.

Students engage in study of the economic crash of The Stock Market in 1929. They examine the trends of the market at the time and discuss the indicators in classroom small groups. Then suggestions are made as to how this could have been...

Students read a short story on baseball cards and reflect on Honus Wagner's decision to withdraw his card. In this baseball cards lesson plan, students study how children used cards in the 1930's and express their understanding of Honus...

Students connect their examination of the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry to a historical and contemporary study of the issue of human rights and civil rights by creating a HyperStudio stack.

Students analyze primary source documents of the 1920s to find the roots of film censorship and understand Pennsylvania's leadership in this movement. They analyze government censorship documents that banned a film in Pennsylvania and...

Students examine Wall Street Reform. In this current events lesson, students read the provided articles "Why a Financial Crisis?," "Deception and Leadership Failure=Boom, Bubble, Burst," and "How Can a Future Financial Crisis be...

Students discover the history of American foreign policy. In this foreign policy instructional activity, students listen to their instructor present a lecture that presents a brief history of American foreign policy. Students...

Students view a video about Betty Ford and how her candid admission of her own battles with addiction has enabled others to face their own addictions. She has done the same for breast cancer, since she was First Lady of the US.