East Lyme Public Schools
To Declare or Not to Declare Independence?
Class members adopt the persona of real figures in American history, Patriots and Loyalists, research these individuals to determine their stance, and then debate the question of whether or not to declare independence from...
Virginia Department of Education
Counterarguments
Create an urbane battle royal in class with the old Coke vs. Pepsi challenge that develops upper level high school learners skills in developing counterarguments in essay writing. The educator divides the room according to tastes, and...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Jacksonian Democracy and Indian Removal
Introduce a study of the presidency of Andrew Jackson with a lesson that uses video clips, primary source documents, group activities, and debates to examine Jackson's early life and career. The lesson focuses on the 1828 election and...
Curated OER
US Immigration Policy: What Should We Do?
Young scholars evaluate immigration policies. For this global issues lesson, students analyze the long-term goals of divergent immigration policies as they role play the deliberation process.
Carfleo
Substance Use and Abuse
What is substance abuse? What is the difference between a depressant and a stimulant? Here is a comprehensive unit on drug use, including three lessons with such activities as categorizing and defining key terms, identifying...
Curated OER
AP Environmental Science-Food Fight
The content in this lesson is of a controversial nature. Please review to make sure it is suitable for your class. A video, The Meatrix is shown to the class, and then they discuss the emotionally-charged language that it uses. They are...
Curated OER
Prosecution or Persecution
Investigate the future of the presidency in the wake of the House of Representatives' vote to impeach President Clinton. The class brainstorms both sides of the argument, reads and discusses an article, then analyzes and writes a journal...
Channel Islands Film
Santa Cruz Island Restoration Narrative
What would you be willing to do to save an animal from extinction? After re-viewing a video about the restoration of the Island Fox on Santa Cruz Island, individuals adopt the point of view of one of the key players in the...
Curated OER
Food, Glorious Food?
How are the reactions between American and European consumers different when it comes to genetically modified foods? Use the New York Times article "Consumers in Europe Resist Gene-Altered Foods" to inform your middle schoolers...
Curated OER
Defending the Homeland--The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1789
Students explore that there have been times during the history of the US when ,in response to real and perceived threats, both domestic and foreign, our country has responded by passing legislation. Students trace the fundamental rights...
Curated OER
The Chosen: Problematic Situation
"What my father had anticipated was now actually happening." The Chosen explores the complicated relationships between parents and their children. Readers make personal connections to Chiam Potok's story, set in Brooklyn's Hasidic...
US National Archives
Documented Rights Educational Lesson Plan
How have groups struggled to have their unalienable rights recognized in the United States? Acting as a research team for the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, your young historians will break into groups to research...
Virginia Department of Education
Analyzing and Interpreting Statistics
Use measures of variance to compare and analyze data sets. Pupils match histograms of data sets to their respective statistical measures. They then use calculated statistics to further analyze groups of data and use the results to make...
BBC
EU, UN, and Commonwealth
Find out how international government organizations work to face global issues. Learners examine if major organizations like the EU, UN, and Commonwealth are effective at tackling big issues like animal protection. They think about...
Deliberating in a Democracy
Cyberbullying—Lesson Plan
Learners examine cyberbullying. In this instructional activity on democracy, students discuss the different ways to deal with cyberbullying. They then take a position on the question of whether a democracy should allow schools to take...
Curated OER
The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Louis Heilbroner
CliffsNotes provides a list of study questions to help your high schoolers grapple with The Worldly Philosophers. Some of them are simple and straight forward, while others offer an opportunity to dig in deeper! Consider printing this...
Curated OER
Is TV Stronger Than Ever, or Becoming Obsolete?
The New York Times offers of two articles and two summaries for learners to consider. They read each article and then post a blog response to each of the seven related questions. The topic of the articles asks the question; Is TV...
Curated OER
Student Learning Questionnaire
Although you could use this for any classroom, it was originally designed to be used in a high school advanced placement English course. Five questions about classroom learning and participation are presented. Give this to your class to...
Curated OER
New Gun Control Politics: A Whimper, Not a Bang
Using an article from The New York Times, students answer discussion questions about gun control. They are divided into four groups to research different standpoints on gun control, including the Executive Office, Congress, Gun...
Curated OER
Does Rick Warren Represent Diversity?
The topic of this lesson focuses on whether or not Obama was able to convincingly defend his choice of choosing Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. This is considered a controversial or hot topic because it...
Curated OER
Avoiding Armageddon
PBS has written a series of lessons on avoiding Armageddon. This is lesson 4 of 5 and focuses on defining terrorism. Upper graders watch episode 3 of "Avoiding Armageddon - The New Face of Terror," read how terrorism is defined by the...
Curated OER
Jon and Charlie's Run
Let's use math to solve an argument. Jon and Charlie are debating about who can run farther, but who is right? That's what your class will figure out as they apply their understanding of fractions to this real-life situation. A simple,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Options for Affecting Public Policy
Letter-writing, e-mail and telephone campaigns, petitions, marches, meetings, with lawmakers. Options for influencing elected representatives are the focus of resource that details how to craft each of these approaches to influencing...
Ken Taylor
The Stones: Guilty or Not Guilty?
Young drama pupils will perform a number of expressive speaking exercises as they consider the themes of responsibility, consequences, and justice in the very modern Australian play The Stones. With a lot of role playing and...