Learners examine several Medieval and Renaissance works of art, including painting and sculpture, at the Art Institute of Chicago. They use worksheets and discussion questions to enhance their interpretation of the pieces.

Looking for a fresh approach to an end-of-unit project for The Odyssey? Check out a resource that has class members write their own hero's journey short story and then craft an illustration that depicts their tale. Apollonio di...

Young scholars view and discuss Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago. Students interpret works by Miro, Oldenberg, Cornell and de Vlaminck and discuss how they feel when viewing the pieces.

Kids consider the various dwellings humans inhabit all over the world. They choose a home from anywhere in the world. Then they research the type of materials, designs, and structures need to build that type of home. The project ends...

Explore ethnicity and identity with a research and writing assignment. Class members conduct online research, looking in particular at images and carefully noting down their sources on notecards. They read about identity and compose...

Explore color through an examination of pointillism and light. Class members view Georges Seraut's famous painting on a computer, zooming in and out to see the details and effects of the technique. They then cover how light and color are...

Surrealistic painters like Marc Chagall and Wendy Rouse show viewers an expansive world in a small area. Young artists have a opportunity to create their own surrealistic paintings in response to a study of works by Chagall and Rouse.

Tenth graders examine the artistic legacy of trains by comparing the representations of trains in the painting of Turner and the photographs of Terry Evans. They write an essay, story or poem using their own observations of trains,...

Examine two works of art and use these pieces as inspiration for dialogues. The whole class discusses Renoir's Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise and Toulouse-Lautrec's At the Moulin Rouge. Then, in groups of either three or ten, pupils...

Using Claude Monet's On the Bank of the Seine as inspiration, young artists create their own postcards. During the instructional activity, learners discuss the techniques used in Monet's painting, as well as the woman in the...

This is a fantastic resource designed for learners to envision what it was like for the three million African-Americans who migrated to urban industrial centers of the northern United States between 1910 and 1940. After reading a...

At best, fighting in hockey makes the sport more entertaining; at worst, fighting could lead to death. Pupils read background information about the prevalence of fighting in hockey since the 1917 formation of the National Hockey League....

Learn about the ancient Near East through a close examination of ancient artifacts. Lead your class into analysis by first observing an artifact as a class. Pupils can then work in pairs to analyze the other artifacts and compile a list...

The use of perspective is clear in Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte. Pupils study and discuss this example, marking the vanishing points and horizon line of a photocopy of the piece. They then create their own urban scene...

Is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) good for America? The informative website is a one-stop shop for ACLU debate resources. Scholars read about the topics surrounding the issue, including free speech, national security, and...

Is a person's sexual orientation determined at birth? With the informative website, scholars prepare for a debate about the topic. They learn the top pro and con arguments and read through a historical timeline of homosexuality. They...

Many people think the best solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a two-state solution. After reviewing the available resources, scholars determine whether they agree with that approach. They analyze graphs and charts about...

Students view the film Fog of War and discuss the most striking elements of the film. They focus on chosen lessons from robert McNamara's life such as: empathy, rationality and proportionality.

Students effectively gather and use information for research purposes. They comprehend the visual arts in relation to history and culture. Students practice note taking skills, and summarizing skills. They know and compare the...

Students define and presents definitions of words that relate to ancient Roman cultural life.

Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.

The first ever minimum wage in America was set at 25 cents per hour in 1938 and has been steadily, if slowly, increasing ever since. Using the provided website, pupils decide if the United States should further increase the federal...

Students change the scale of a work of art using ratios, percentages, and proportions. While this is technically an art lesson, there is quite a bit of mathematics involved in converting to the correct scale.

Students create a drawing of a flower using Georgia O'Keeffe as their inspiration, then develop skills in drawing and composition. They explain the difference between realistic and abstract.