Fifth graders summarize a decade in the twentieth century and compare it to another decade. They present facts in a Hyperstudio document that includes text, photos, and audio to describe the decade.

Middle and high schoolers study significant people who shaped the 20th-century history and are introduced to database tools. Researchers use the Internet to research five 20th century history makers. They write a short biography of five...

Students use primary and secondary sources to study the literature, historical events, people, technology, medicine, government, entertainment and culture of the decades of the twentieth century.

The Statue of Liberty may embrace the huddled masses of the world, but has American society always joined in? After young historians read a passage about the history of American immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on...

Students explore cultural trends in the United States in the 20th century and examine the resurgence of some of those trends in today's society.

Students study the invention of the parachute and how Leonardo da Vinci came up with the design.  In this aerodynamics lesson students test the properties that make parachutes more efficient.

High schoolers explore Stephen Sondheim's contributions to musical theatre in the context of the dramatic cultural shift that occurred in American life in the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Students work in cooperative groups to research life in a decade of the 20th century. Each group member writes a 7-10 page paper highlighting the social, political and cultural events and the group presents a Powerpoint presentation to...

Five segements from Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, easily accessed on the PBS website, are at the center of a terrific short unit on the roots of America's ambivalent relationship with alcohol. Engage your secondary...

Can investigative journalism become too sensationalistic and accusatory, or is it vital for the survival of a democracy? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents from early 20th-century newspapers as well as Theodore...

Students study the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein in an historical context of the development of American musical theatre as an art form. Students explore "roots" of the genre as it evolves in last half of the 19th and first two decades...

Students explore fashion through the 20th Century. They create a poster about their assigned era. Students teach their classmates about the fashion of the assigned period. They describe the fashion trends, current events, popular music...

Students investigate and develop relationships between selected themes and resources. In this Us history lesson, students interpret, analyze, and evaluate shifts in continuity throughout US history. Students will create  multimedia...

Middle schoolers explore the excavations of the Palace of Knossos on the Island of Crete. They create a simulated news broadcasting on the work of Sir Arthur Evans and his colleges. In their news investigation, learners cover such topics...

Eleventh graders discover the impact of advertising in 1920's America. In this 20th century history lesson, 11th graders complete KNU charts as they research marketing techniques that were used during the decade to promote consumerism.

High schoolers are introduced to the ideas of the American Dream at the turn of the century. They present their ideas on the American Dream at the turn of the century through a person characterized in Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River...

Pupils define the American dream. For this primary research lesson, students search the Library of Congress digital collections for primary sources regarding the ideal of the American dream.  Pupils create presentation to share...

Students examine the first successful explorations of the North and South Poles, through a study of the four men who accomplished them. They present the fruits of their research on posters, or with PowerPoint presentations.

When your upper elementary class returns in the fall, have them identify and define the beginnings of the labor movement and Labor Day in the United States. They thoughtfully reflect on changes that have occurred in the way we think...

Students write from varying perspectives in the American South about the civil rights movements in the 1950s. In this civics instructional activity, students view video clips and take notes. Students discuss the film and listen to a...

Students explore how F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. In novels such as Tender is the Night, This Side of Paradise, and The Great Gatsby, he captured the mood and manners of his time.

Students examine artwork by Thomas Hart Benton. In this interdisciplinary lesson, students analyze the painting The Sources of Country Music, listen to folk music, and examine how recording technology and the movies shaped the images of...

Students, in groups, research specific decades and then create multi-tiered timelines representing Indian and Pakistani relations and politics during those decades.

Young scholars evaluate the impact of the Chaffey brothers and Charles Frankish on Ontario, California, and compare their efforts with those of similarly important figures in their own community's history.