Curated OER
Life in Ancient Ghana, Mali, and Songhai
Learners study the ancient African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. They brainstorm what they know about ancient African kingdoms before investigating the trade and barter situations, and researching one of the kingdoms for an oral...
Center Science Education
Paleoclimates and Pollen
Demonstrate for your earth scientists how plant pollen of the past has become part of sedimentary deposits, providing clues about ancient climates. Then give them simulated sediment layer samples to analyze for different types of paper...
Council for Economic Education
Entrepreneurs in Mesopotamia
While ancient Mesopotamia didn't have the TV show "Shark Tank," it was a time of entrepreneurship as workers began to specialize. Both individual workers and the societal structure encouraged individuals to consider how they could...
Partnership for Educating Colorado Students
Mayan Mathematics and Architecture
Take young scholars on a trip through history with this unit on the mathematics and architecture of the Mayan civilization. Starting with a introduction to their base twenty number system and the symbols they used, this eight-lesson unit...
CK-12 Foundation
Radiocarbon Dating
How do we know how long ago a dinosaur lived or an ancient fire pit was used? Scholars learn about the application of carbon dating and half lives to discover things about the past. They adjust the amount of radioactive carbon in the...
Curated OER
Simulation: Urban Planning for An Ancient Mayan City
Students participate in the simulation of planning an ancient Mayan city. In this urban planning activity, students role play as citizens of an Mayan city. They act out their roles in a classroom that has been rearranged to simulate the...
Curated OER
Wheel of Pharaoh
Students investigate ancient Egyptian civilization and its rulers. In this ancient history lesson, students simulate playing a game similar to Wheel of Fortune whereby students have to correctly guess all the letters that spell a word or...
Curated OER
Ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian Writing
Middle schoolers research cuneiform and hieroglyphics from the internet and use educational software to create their own cuneiform tablet in this excellent World History lesson. The use of the computer software program Inspiration 7.5...
Curated OER
AP: Chapter 26: Origin of Life
Five pages take biologists on a generalized survey of the origin of life. Queries are made regarding theories of how life developed, ancient Earth conditions, and the ever-changing field of taxonomy. The experiments of different...
Curated OER
Archaeology and History
In this archaeology worksheet, students draw the given chart into a folder and copy the given points. Students then write the missing word 'historians' or 'archaeologist' for the sentences. Students visit an interactive timeline website...
Council for Economic Education
How Neolithic Farmers Increased Their Standard of Living
How do people improve their economic situations? While many learners may not consider questions about how many crops to grow in ancient times were economic decisions, a hands-on activity encourages individuals to make these connections....
Curated OER
History According to Shakespeare
Middle schoolers read Shakespeare's, Julius Caesar while identifying a number of literary elements including simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole. As a response activity, they simulate a mock trial, and finally, compare and...
Curated OER
Reformation Simulation
Learners discover the Medieval reformation. In this ethics lesson, students simulate council and government bodies to determine responses to various opinions regarding religion and ethics. They determine what postilions to take and why...
Council for Economic Education
The Silk Road
The Silk Road connected the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian worlds. It also helped create the modern trade world. An analysis activity makes the importance of this Chinese innovation clear by asking participants to evaluate trades...
Curated OER
Ancient Mediterranean Trade Fair
Sixth graders begin the lesson by discussing how artifacts are located. In groups, they define the terms supply, demand, resources and trade and discuss how the United States is affected by International trade. They use this...
Curated OER
Protecting the Past: Give a Hoot, Don't Loot!
Students, in small groups, simulate an ancient civilization and the art they created, another group represents vandals, and the final group represents archaeologists who try to figure out what life was like for the "ancient peoples". ...
Curated OER
Ancient Music Recreated in Scotland
Students read, analyze and critique a newspaper article about ancient musical tunes that have been found in a church in Scotland. They assess key vocabulary terms found within the article and compose lyrics for a song after answering a...
Curated OER
Theology…the Use of Silence in the Classroom
Immerse your class in the Middle Ages with a thorough history activity. After viewing examples of illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells, they discuss how these were the mode of keeping and storing information employed by the...
Curated OER
Simulation: Connecting Osiris
Students identify Ancient Egypt as the origin of the idea that moral worth as the key to eternal life. In this Ancient Egypt lesson, students discuss immorality or eternal life. Students then work the Osiris puzzle and discuss the legend...
Curated OER
Trade in Precontact Alaska
Students explore the geography of Alaska and its effect on trade. In this ancient Alaska instructional activity, students participate in a simulation that requires them to trade with those in the territory and outside of it.
Curated OER
Aztecs Meet the Spanish
Students simulate an Independent Counsel to represent the Spanish and the Aztecs to formulate a policy for the Roman Catholic Church in 1527. They conduct research, graph the similarities and differences, create a poster, and write a...
Curated OER
Ancient Democracy
Students describe which segments of society were included in the original Athenian democracy. They compare and contrast early Greek democracy to democracy as it is exercised in the United States today.
Curated OER
Will America Fall Apart Like the Maya?
Students work in teams to research ancient Mayan civilization as they simulate working for the President of the United States. He is concerned that if a civilization as technologically advanced as the Maya's could disappear, could the...
Curated OER
The Greek Gods
What were the early Greek myths? Have elementary young scholars examine the Persian Wars and read various Greek myth in order to identify the cause and the results of the Persian Wars. Myths, activities, simulations, and a unit plan are...