Though the murder of Emmett Till shocked 1950's America into turning attention to the racial crimes of the South, it was far from the first time racism had erupted into violence. High schoolers examine the killing in context with the...

Students view film footage of the Ku Klux Klan in the U.S. in the early 1920s and examine how the actions of the KKK have been viewed by different strands of the civil rights movement. They watch the film and answer discussion...

Students examine journalism in extreme conditions. In this war-zone journalism lesson, students research media coverage of Vietnam, Grenada, the Gulf War, and military actions in Somalia and Kosovo. Students compare coverage in the...

Students investigate methods of pollination for various flowers. In this plant biology lesson, students learn the parts of a flower and form a hypothesis about the method of pollination for the flower. They determine the validity of...

The choices made by Roy Bryant and J.W. Millam, the men who murdered Emmett Till in 1955, are usually the ones people ponder when they examine the case. But other individuals made choices that contributed to the event and its subsequent...

Fifth graders become familiar with the role of African Americans during WWII.  In this WWII lesson, 5th graders watch a newsreel and discuss its use as a primary source.  Students answer questions about the newsreel.

Learners explore triptychs.  In this art history lesson, students define the terms "photograph" and "triptych".  Learners discuss changes that occur between mothers and daughters and create an original triptych using...

Events related to the Civil Rights Movement in Sacramento, California during the 1960s offer class members an opportunity to compare the nonviolent resistance approach favored by Dr. Martin Luther King and the NAACP with those of the...

In this sharks activity, learners watch shark videos, answer multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, write characteristics, and more. Students complete 11 activities.

Students study the settlement of the American frontier through literature. For this literature lesson, students read and discuss works by James Fenimore Cooper, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Willa Cather, and Hamlin Garland. Students compare...

Learners research psychology by participating in a role-play activity. In this human relationship lesson, students define the term "family" and read assigned text which discusses how family relationships work. Learners answer study...

High schoolers experience Zen philosophies reflected in artwork, poetry, and architecture. Students will explore these connections and expand the discussion to include a professional author of their choice.

Students work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail. Working in groups, they write a scene for the movie that is historically accurate and based on the kinds of...

Sudents compare specific excerpts from The Red Badge of Courage to first-hand accounts of Civil War battles, in text and images and list elements of Crane's style in The Red Badge of Courage that contribute to its realism.

This lesson will help students learn more about current immigrant experience, nvestigate U.S. immigration and labor laws, consider the meaning of citizenship, gain knowledge about the economics of poverty, practice research skills and...

This lesson will help students practice conducting an oral history interview, increase knowledge about what it is like to be a soldier, gain knowledge about the Vietnam War and gain knowledge about the Chicano experience in the U.S.

Students study the state of the world before the slave trade. They explain the geography and economics of the slave trade. They explore primary sources and how historians use these sources to create historical interpretations.

Students research the initial labeling and classification of Jews through the use of images on the Web. They gather additional information about the history and effects of the Holocaust on survivors.

Students, in groups, take various roles in evaluating the costs/benefits of the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River in China.

Students view the video "Jefferson's Blood" and complete a series of activities, dealing with both Thomas Jefferson's public and private life, in order to better explain Jefferson as a man and politician.

Students discuss the Constitution of the United States and its amendments, then apply this discussion by creating a "Who should Decide What?" list, based upon their ideas about whether controversial issues such as abortion and medical...

Students research the history of the Depression particularly in the ways it was documented by photography. Then they take their own pictures in the style of one of the best documentarians, Dorothea Lange.