National History Day
A Clever War: Scientific and Technological Advances in World War I
Technology—changing lives and transforming war. Your tech-loving historians examine photographs and primary documents to explore how technology changed not only World War I, but also how it moved society forward. They apply their...
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation
Photographs as History
Imagine being a war photographer embedded in World War I. How do you see your role? How might your photos influence that study of the war? Of history? Class members select a photograph, adopt the perspective of the photographer, and...
Curated OER
A Lens into the Past
Explore the history of immigration through photographs. Scholars will view and discuss photographs depicting the culture and lifestyle of late 19th and early 20th century immigrants. They take pictures of current examples of culture in...
Syracuse University
World War I
World War I was known for its gruesome battlefields and horrific injuries. Using photographs from a battlefield surgeon's scrapbook, scholars see first-hand what life was like in the trenches. After creating a timeline of the war using...
Annenberg Foundation
Pre-Columbian America
What was life like in America before Christopher Columbus discovered the New World? Scholars investigate life in the Americas through the eyes of Native Americans in the first lesson of a 22-part series covering America's history. Using...
Curated OER
The Civil War in Pictures
Here is a really unique way to present information on the American Civil War. The slide show begins with a look at the first true photojournalist, Matthew Brady. It describes his tools and methods, then shows his pictures. Each image is...
Curated OER
Old Photographs: Windows to the Past
Students examine several types of old photographs and compare them to photography today. Students search for historical photographs and draw conclusions about the time period from the subject matter. Students explain how a camera...
Curated OER
Simple Machines Scavenger Hunt
Third graders examine machinery in the modern world by completing a scavenger hunt. In this technology activity, 3rd graders utilize a computer to view photographs of simple machines they must locate. Students take...
Civil War Trust
Civil War Newspaper
One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...
Curated OER
No Place Like Home
Students analyze photographs of high plains sod homes and read accompanying narratives. They then choose one photograph and, using the copy and paste features and simple drawing tools available in Microsoft Word, students identify...
Teach With Movies
Title: "The Time Machine" - Topics: Science-Technology
Director George Pal’s film The Time Machine, based on H. G. Wells’ 1895 science fiction novella and starring Rod Taylor, Alan Young, and Yvette Mimieux, is the focus of a lesson that considers the consequences of time travel. Viewers...
Annenberg Foundation
Placing Artifacts in Time
Can history distort the true story behind famous people? Scholars analyze the many faces of the Native American Pocahontas. Incorporating technology and historical thinking skills, they uncover the many different sides to the Pocahontas...
Curated OER
Native Americans
Pupils determine how Native Americans were stripped of their cultures. In this Native American history lesson, students analyze several photographs of Native Americans and respond to questions about the photographs. Pupils discuss their...
Curated OER
Photo Analysis of American Inventions
Students interpret historical evidence presented in primary and secondary resources. In this inventions activity, students analyze photographs of American inventions and and discuss the needs the inventions met...
Curated OER
Examining Women's roles in education through images from the Appalachian State University Historical Photograph Collection
Eleventh graders analyze images from ASU's Historical Photograph Collection. In this American History lesson plan, 11th graders examine the achievements of the women's movement.
Curated OER
Technology and Invention in Entertainment
In this technology and invention worksheet on entertainment, students describe the features of a gramophone and record player shown in a photograph. Then they identify and list what inventions have replaced them for listening to music...
Curated OER
Technology and Invention in Construction
In this technology and inventions worksheet, students identify and describe the equipment used in 3 photographs for construction in the past. Then they describe the equipment that would be used to build railways. Finally, students...
Curated OER
Technology and Invention Farm Equipment
For this technology and invention worksheet on farm equipment, students describe equipment being used in each of 3 farming scenes. Then they outline the differences between the early tractors as compared to the modern tractors, including...
Curated OER
Photographing War
Students examine the role of Matthew Brady photographing the Civil War and compare it with the role of photographers embedded in the War in Iraq.
Curated OER
Children's Rights/Child Labor -- A Photographic Essay
Students continue to examine the conditions students work in throughout the world. Using photographs, they discover the similarities and differences in regions throughout the world. They relate their own experiences to the child laborers.
Curated OER
Inventions Change the World: The Enigma Machine
Third graders explore WWII by analyzing technological advances. In this invention instructional activity, 3rd graders discuss the use of the Enigma machine which decoded private German messages that communicated with U-boats. Students...
Curated OER
1906 San Francisco Earthquake
Students analyze photographs relating to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake for earthquake damage. They determine the cause and effects of the earthquake and the fire.
Curated OER
Costume Exploration
What a great instructional activity, upper graders are sure to love. They explore costume design and the relationships between theatre, culture, and history. They research three time periods, write a response about two of them, then...
Curated OER
The Zabbaleen, Cairo's Garbage Workers
Here is a fascinating human geography study of the Zabbaleen. They are a sub-class of people who work as garbage collectors in Cairo, Egypt. I can't say enough good things about this resource in my limited space here. It is fabulous! If...