High schoolers examine tenement life. In this lesson on early urbanization, students research the role of journalism for social change in early American cities. High schoolers write a journal article for themselves that demonstrate an...

Students explain what causes light pollution and how it can be curtailed. They consider the negative consequences of nighttime lighting, enabled by the invention of electric lights at the close of the 19th Century.

Middle schoolers use readings and discussion to investigate the 19th century practice of Orphan Trains - sending U.S. urban orphans from the East to the Midwest in hopes of procuring them a home. They focus on the concept of social...

High schoolers are introduced to the ideas of the American Dream at the turn of the century. They present their ideas on the American Dream at the turn of the century through a person characterized in Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River...

Eleventh graders compare and contrast the type of immigrant that came to America during the 19th and 20th centuries. They write letters as if they were immigrants coming to America and what they faced and their hopes for the future.

The Election of 1912: an election with four competitive opponents. Pupils get to know the candidates with informative reading passages that provide context to the election. Then, the class engages in a debate and answers questions as one...

High schoolers examine the various roles Washington Irving had in his lifetime. Examining the situation in Europe and the United States, they are encouraged to relate Irving's experiences to different events. They examine themselves in...

Seventh graders gain a better understanding of the canal period in U.S. History, and more specifically, discern the importance of the Illinois and Michigan Canal on the development of Illinois as a state and Chicago as a prominent city.

Students research some of the men and women who help to raise the environmental consciousness of the American people through their writings and drawings. They write a persuasive piece about an outdoor place which will connect their...