View a film called "Truth, War and Consequences," available for purchase on PBS, with your class. They answer comprehension questions and practice their critical thinking skills as well. 

Walk in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark as they discover the wonders, beauty, and dangers of the American frontier. After gaining background knowledge about Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase, young explorers use primary...

Discuss the separation of church and state as it relates to government entities. This is a great way to launch a discussion on the relationship between these groups. Learners analyze this relationship in governments throughout the world,...

Students use this lesson to focus on population growth and the threat of overpopulation. In groups, they analyze the world birth and death rates to determine the growth rate of the population. As a class, they discuss the causes and...

It's a delicate balance—using technology to improve our lives while still protecting the environment, and ourselves, from the hazards of technology use. Class members examine statistics about the increase in media use, complete a survey...

What would your class members say to the opportunity to take two years off of school between grades 10 and 11? Examine the economic concepts of costs, benefits, and unintended consequences with this unique and engaging approach.

Make your class aware of the difference between media violence and real violence. Using prior knowledge, a video clip, and a worksheet, class members explore and discuss the unrealistic portrayal of violence in the media. Learners...

Do the ends justify the means? Getting a drug approved in the US is a long and involved process. But at some point out, it involves testing on humans. The ethics of such testing is the focus of a resource that uses Dr. Albert...

Students investigate a problem and look at the associated positive and negative choices and consequences. They work together to make a group decisions and role play in peer mediation situations.

While the Emoluments Clause didn't get a lot of attention before the 2016 election, all eyes have been on this short phrase in the Constitution with the election of Donald Trump. As a business owner, do his financial interests conflict...

Explore primary and secondary sources in this historical analysis lesson. Young researchers define the terms primary source and secondary source. They read a primary source document provided by the teacher and answer questions about...

Is the expansion of American corporations abroad a good or bad thing? After examining the global operations of Ford Motor Company, McDonald's, and Walmart, class members are asked to evaluate the impact of globalization and...

Address the current political climate with a series of thought-provoking activities. A resource packet provides pupils with strategies for challenging racist behavior and religious prejudice, and moves them from being passive bystanders...

The United States may have pulled its troops from the Vietnam War in 1973, but the conflict was far from over for the citizens living in Asia at the time. An informative resource lets learners know about the wave of over 220,000...

The resource, a standalone, shows how news coverage of John Brown's Raid began when the event happened and how that reporting shaped perception in West Virginia history. The resource includes interesting anticipatory discussion...

The anti-busing movement in Boston is the focus of a lesson plan that asks young historians to examine primary source documents to identify the causes and consequences of busing pupils from one area of the city to another in the attempt...

What's the best way to make sense of the Constitution?  A helpful lesson contains both the text of Article III and annotation of each of its sections, breaking it down into easy-to-understand parts. It also includes links to a...

Students discuss the U.S. economy, society, and politics in the years following World War II. They explore the boom in advertising during this period by reviewing print advertisements from the late 1940s and early 1950s. Students view...

Young scholars research and discuss the consequences of the Sedition Act. They illustrate the difficulty of balancing security needs and personal freedom using an example from John Adams's presidency.

Young historians consider the cause and effects of the Emancipation Proclamation. They use handouts, response sheets, and class discussion to build an opinion about the subject after viewing the PBS documentary Abraham and Mary Lincoln:...

Almost every American is familiar with the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education. Far fewer understand the constitutional reasoning or the wide-ranging consequences of the ruling in the field of criminology. The interesting...

The threat posed by super volcanoes is explored in a short video that reviews the destruction caused by Mount Tambora in 1815 and by Peru's Huaynaputina in 1600. Think it can't happen again? The narrator contends that the explosive...

The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre is the focus of a lesson that explores the causes and consequences of the destruction of the Greenwood section of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Pupils examine primary source images, a video clip covering the riots, and...

Encultureate, assimilate, or eliminate? The 2021 discovery of a mass grave of over 200 children on the site of a former Canadian Indian Boarding school led to the creation of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. High schoolers...