The 2016-2017 protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) motivated Camille Seaman to create "We Are Still Here," a photo essay featuring portraits of contemporary Native Americans who protested the pipeline. This eight-page...

The second lesson in the series asks groups to analyze an exchange of love letters between Abigail and John Adams. Scholars identify the many allusions and references in the letters and consider what they can infer about the writers.

The 2016 election is over, and now it's time to dig in to some data! An activity revolves around data gathered from the First Vote Project in North Carolina wherein thousands of students voted. After diving in to the data using...

Mr. and Mrs. Twit do not treat each other very nicely. The sixth lesson plan in an 11-part unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl explores the way the characters talk to and treat one another. Role play and writing...

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...

This New York Times "Learning Network" activity poses 11 questions on an article and video about commercial branding and marketing on college campuses. The related article, "On the Market: Thinking Critically About Advertising", is...

While the Industrial Revolution may have fueled America's rise to the top of world markets, the child laborers often faced dangerous conditions. Using primary source images and other information, scholars consider what these children...

Groups select a photograph from one of the four eras of African Americans in Congress and develop a five-minute presentation that provides background information about the image as well as its historical significance. The class compares...

Sunrise, sunset, swiftly fly the years! Your earth scientists can also fly through a year of daylight data. They analyze a graph and then answer five multiple choice questions about the rising and setting of the sun, the total number of...

What does your class think about big business bailouts by the U.S. Government? Find out with this activity, where learners analyze a political cartoon comparing the "Big Three" automakers with the Greek Myth of Sisyphus. Background...

Introduce literary analysis, writing skills, and purposeful reading with a book review. Pupils answer five questions that ask about plot, characters, language used, story elements, and the main character. This is a wonderful way to start...

Although the work Americans do has changed over time, the plight of the American worker has largely remained the same. Facilitate a class discussion aboutAmerican workers using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and...

Without the benefit of history, Western Europe in the 1940's had no idea what was about to befall them. Class members use primary sources, including political cartoons, videos, and internal documents, to analyze how much of a threat...

Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...

Should Juneteenth be recognized as a national holiday? To prepare to take a stance on this question, young historians first analyze the Emancipation Proclamation and compare it to Lincoln's first Inaugural Address. Scholars then read an...

What makes an event newsworthy, worth a reference in a news magazine or textbook? Who decides? These are questions Marilyn Nelson asks readers of her poem "Making History" to consider. To begin, class members list details they notice in...

Biology beginners observe traits in a collection of plant parts to realize the tremendous amount of genetic variation within a species. They consider rules of nature and discuss what would happen if they changed. They also examine data...

Sports fans will really enjoy this unit conversion assignment. A table of standard measurements for football-related equipment is presented as the data for solving six word problems. For all of the problems, players will need to convert...

An information-packed eight-page article detailing the history of understanding active transport across cell membranes makes up the bulk of this handout. Two pages of reading comprehension and critical-thinking questions follow. The...

Learners apply critical thinking skills as they analyze data about the temperature inside a gymnasium during a school assembly. The focus is on representing temperature as a function of time and interpreting input and output values...

Here is a fantastic, comprehensive resource on the roles and powers assigned to the president of the United States. It includes several critical thinking exercises and engaging activities, from cartoon analysis and the opportunity to...

For 30 years, Long John Silver has sailed the seas. An eBook version of Treasure Island introduces readers to the tales Long John Silver has to tell. This 1883 version of the text includes an introduction to encourage critical...

To understand the importance of the wording of the articles of the First Amendment (freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the press, and freedom to assembly and petition), teams argue before a jury for draft amendments of one...

Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...