Smithsonian Institution
Western Indian Wars
Why do many Native Americans live on reservations? An interactive resource teaches about how reservations came to be and the tragic history behind Native Americans moving from their lands. Teenagers read passages, view images, and click...
Curated OER
Stampin' Around Chicago
Students discuss the United States Postal Service and choose an artifact from one decade. In this art lesson, students research how the artifact chosen relates to Chicago and the United States. Students create their own postage stamp...
Curated OER
My Way
Students culminate a humanities project by improvising music to accompany a video of a particular era in US history.
Curated OER
the World Rushed In: "Who Are These People? And How Came They Here?"
Students discuss the struggles Californians dealt with regarding diversity brought about by the Gold Rush. They participate in a variety of creative, original activities and projects designed to reinforce the idea of historical diversity...
Curated OER
Vocation: Fashion Powerpoints
Students examine the history of fashion through a Powerpoint presentation and several hands-on projects. After creating their own presentations of particular fashion eras, they sketch costume examples and place them in portfolios.
Curated OER
Harlem Renaissance: Pivotal Period in the Development of Afro-American Culture
Students examine the time period of the Harlem Renaissance. In groups, they compare and contrast the type of art before and after the movement along with the state of society at the time. After reading a book on the topic of their...
Curated OER
Getting Down and Dirty: An Exploration of the 1930's
Students complete an exploration of the 1930s. Using artwork and primary source documents, they compare, contrast and identify cause and effect relationships in the events of the decade. They discover how the events then affect people...
Curated OER
Deadly Dancing: Failure Proof Field Trips
Students are given an opportunity to role play a particular period of American History. They engage in a field trip that is then reflected upon and further research is done in the class. Their final project is to act out a play they...
Curated OER
Civil Rights Movement Cut-and-Paste Timeline
Students put into order the sequence of events that brought about voting rights and equal rights for African Americans. The creative project can be made very crafty by having students cut out the timeline to be combined with others in a...
Curated OER
Public Interventions
Learners analyze the work of two artists who made interventions in public spaces. In this art analysis lesson, students investigate ephemeral and site specific art. Learners complete image based discussion and related projects.
Curated OER
Advertising and Consumerism of the 1920's
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.
Curated OER
1950’s American Culture: Television, Fashion, and Music
Sixth graders investigate the impact of popular culture on Americans. For this 1950's America lesson, 6th graders view television clips, listen to audio clips, and look over fashion photographs from the decade. Students then discuss...
Curated OER
Levittown, Automobiles, and Cultures of the 1950's
Students investigate the impact of the automobile on Americans. In this 1950's America lesson, students listen to audio clips, read about Levittown, and explore the Interstate Highway Act from the decade. Students then discuss their...
Curated OER
Smiley Face Circle Stories
Students examine different artifacts from the 1970's. In this history lesson, students discover what each artifact is by seeing the artifact and reading a card defining what the artifact represents. On the second day, students create...
Curated OER
In The Year 2121
Students research the advances of an invention's industrial design over decades or centuries. They project improvements and innovations for the future in drawings and descriptive prose. Automobiles are used as an example.
Curated OER
Tour of Our Century
Students will research the politics, arts, social climate, technological and
scientific advances of the 1900s. They will work in cooperative groups to
identify the most significant advances of one decade then use a computer to create a...
Curated OER
Portfolio Reviews
Students engage in a lesson that is concerned with the steps needed to put together a teaching portfolio. They collect artifacts to accompany the portfolio and then present them as a part of a cumulative project grade. Some students may...
Curated OER
Endangered Species- Florida Panther
Students investigate the concept of the conservation of the Florida Panther and examine the effects of the Everglades water restoration project. They conduct a web based activity that includes the following: Listing what they know,...
Curated OER
VH1 Presents the 1980s - Lesson 4
Young scholars discuss development of music videos. They identify elements that make a successful music video. Groups are assigned to do a research project on the development of music videos.
Curated OER
American Literature - The American Dream: Past, Present, and Future
Students 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 Anthology.
John Hopkins University
Diets and Influence on Food Choice
From start to finish, this is a truly excellent lesson plan addressing the epidemic of diet-related disease in the United States. Learners begin with a reading excerpt of detailed information on trends in the American diet and the...
Global Oneness Project
A Collapsing City Skyline
Have your high schoolers learn about the modern history of Myanmar by close-reading an article about the city and people of the city Yangon. As they'll learn, the country is going through some dramatic transitions. After reading the...
Curated OER
What a Character! Comparing Literary Adaptations
What do Robert Downey Jr., Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Fritz Weaver, Roger Moore, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Daffy Duck have in common? Why, it’s elementary, my dear Watson! They all have portrayed Sherlock Holmes. Literary detectives...
Curated OER
Lesson 7: Smart Grids
Energy conservation is a hot topic these days; introduce your kids to the Smart Grid solution through a video clip and several interactive online tools. They discuss areas of household energy consumption, examining a pie chart...