PBS
African American History: Honored as Heroes
To gain an understanding of the treatment of African American soldiers during World War I, class members watch an excerpt from the History Detectives film, Our Colored Heroes, and then examine three recruitment posters from that time...
Curated OER
The Grapes of Wrath: Scrapbooks and Artifacts
Students complete research to enhance their reading of "The Grapes of Wrath". Using the text, they identify and locate cultural artifacts and discuss their symbolic connotations. As a class, they create a museum exhibit of the various...
Curated OER
Native American Cultures
Students examine artifacts and pieces of art from various Native American cultures. Using the internet, they research the culture that the artifact came from in more detail noting their lifestyle and contributions to the culture itself....
Curated OER
Writing American Diaries
Young scholars examine the concept of historical perspective in writing. They read the diary of Sally Wister, a young Patriot from Philadelphia during the Revolutionary Era. Additionally, they must include different points of view in...
Curated OER
Digging Up Artifacts On Line
Why is it important to preserve historical documents and artifacts? Examine the role of primary source documents and the availability of these documents on the Internet. Middle and high schoolers write a journal about the nature of...
Channel Islands Film
Telling Your Own Story
After watching and discussing a video on the Voyage of Cabrillo, individuals craft their own origin story and design and build an artifact they feel best represents their history.
Curated OER
Learning about Native Americans through Artifact Analysis and Artwork
Sixth graders assess how a Native American's environment and the geographic region where they lived influenced their food, clothing, shelter and the overall culture of a tribe. They study the impact of conservation, family, rural life,...
Curated OER
Artifacts 2: Artifacts in Context
Students role play as archeologists to determine how artifacts tell about how people lived. In this artifacts lesson, students look at pictures of artifacts of the ancient city of Catalhoyuk and tell what life was like there. They look...
Curated OER
American Indians, European Settlers, and Colonial Arkansas
Students identify the interdependence among various ethnic groups in early Arkansas history. They illustrate timelines and visit historic sites. They make maps of the site and give class presentations.
Channel Islands Film
Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 3
Should researchers be able to excavate, examine, and remove Native American artifacts from historic sites? Should companies be permitted to build on sacred Native American land? After watching West of the West's documentary, The Lone...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 2 - Grades 4-6
Class members will dig this activity that has them trying their hand at recovering artifacts. Groups are assigned a section of a sandbox, carefully uncover the artifacts in their section, and then develop theories about who might have...
K12 Reader
What is a Tribal Government?
What is life like on a Native American reservation? Learn about the ways a tribal government works with a reading comprehension activity. After reading a short passage, kids use context clues to answer five comprehension questions.
Curated OER
Stones, Bones & Telephones: Analyzing Artifacts Using Bloom's Taxonomy
Seventh graders define metacognition, Bloom's Taxonomy, and artifacts. They, in groups, try to identify a mystery artifact using the Artifact Analysis sheet. They present their findings to the class.
Curated OER
Native American Cultures for Grades 4-5
Students investigate Native American culture by researching the Internet. In this U.S. History instructional activity, students read online field reports about exploration and the history of Native Americans in the United States....
Curated OER
Mini Museum
Students brainstorm about the different types of museums and complete a worksheet by looking at artifacts and what they think that object did. They work together in groups to complete a KWL chart throughout the lesson.
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 1 - Grades 9-12
Archaeologists have discovered a cache of Native American relics. They want to preserve these relics by removing them from the rapidly eroding site to a lab where they can be studied. Native American traditions demand that the items be...
National Park Service
Maltese Cross Cabin
The Maltese Cross Cabin, a frontier residence of Theodore Roosevelt, is a time capsule that commemorates Roosevelt's time in the Dakota territory. An explanatory video and response guide takes students on a virtual tour of the wooden...
Curated OER
Native American Pottery
In this Native American craft instructional activity, learners read a short excerpt about Native American pottery and then color each of the pots. Students must circle the two pots that are exactly alike.
Curated OER
Social Studies: Exploring Boston's Big Dig
Students, in a high school class for autistic children, take a virtual tour of Boston's "Big Dig" and the artifacts discovered there. During weekly lab sessions, they discover the processes involved in artifact preservation. Using...
Curated OER
My Secret War: Lesson 8
Fifth graders explore American history by viewing videos on the Internet. In this Japanese internment lesson, 5th graders discuss the politics that took place between America and Japan during WWII and why it was necessary to incarcerate...
Curated OER
Regional Landforms and Native People
Third graders study the Native American tribes of Maidu and Miwok by studying Internet artifacts, culture, language, music, storytelling, architecture, food, clothing, crafts and geology.
ReadWriteThink
Designing Museum Exhibits for The Grapes of Wrath: A Multigenre Project
Challenge readers of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath to create a museum exhibit that uses artifacts to focus on one issue raised by the award winning story of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the Joads.
Ford's Theatre
How Perspective Shapes Understanding of History
The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...
Curated OER
Ghana Artifacts
Students study to artifacts from Ghana and discuss how these aid in understanding the civilization.