Curated OER
Artifact Classification
For this artifact classification worksheet, students are given a list of key terms and two activity sheets about classifying artifacts of the Pee Dee culture. Students analyze artifacts and group them to answer questions on the...
PBS
Observation
Learners study making scientific observations . They conduct a "field study" in their attic and make observations about their family artifacts based upon physical attributes. In addition, they determine what characteristics of an object...
Curated OER
Hidden Children
Eleventh graders explore, analyze and study a specific genocidal event in twentieth-century history, The Holocaust. They evaluate a variety of historical artifacts and synthesize the information gathered into their own in order to...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Harriet Tubman and the End of Slavery
Harriet Tubman saved hundreds from slavery through what was called the Underground Railroad. Teach learners about her amazing accomplishments through the article that uses effective direct instruction. After reading, scholars break into...
Curated OER
"How to Think Like an Archaeologist" - Suggested Pre-Visit Activity For Historic Jamestown
Students examine how archaeologists use artifacts to explore other people and their cultures. They discuss types of artifacts, analyze receipts for clues, and discuss how what the items bought reflect about people.
Curated OER
Investigating Sources-Artifacts
Students discuss artifacts. For this social science lesson, students realize that artifacts can help one in determining about the person the artifacts belonged to. Students will be put into small groups and will look at objects from a...
Curated OER
Learning from Artifacts Uncovering Clues, Large and Small
Students observe artifacts from Fort St. Louis at a website in order to make inferences about the people who lived there. They paint pottery in the style which might have been used by one of the cultural groups who inhabited the fort.
Curated OER
Artifacts We Don't Dig Up
Students play a game of artifact show and tell using household items.
Curated OER
Cityscapes: Architecture as Artifact
Young scholars research an architecture artifact in their community and journal about the experience.
Curated OER
Learning about Native Americans through Artifact Analysis and Artwork
Sixth graders assess how a Native American's environment and the geographic region where they lived influenced their food, clothing, shelter and the overall culture of a tribe. They study the impact of conservation, family, rural life,...
Museum of the American Revolution
Object Observation: Purpose on a Powder Horn?
Young archeologists discover the significance of ordinary objects from the past in an interesting lesson on artifact analysis. The activity focuses on examining the image of a powder horn from the Revolutionary War to understand what it...
Museum of the Moving Image
Political Ads in Historical Context
Campaign ads target both timely issues and general themes. Presidential campaign ads from 1952 and 1988 provide class members an opportunity to compare how the topics ads choose to address can dramatically influence election outcomes.
State University of New York
Going Back in Time Using “George Washington’s Socks”
After reading Elvira Woodruff's George Washington's Socks, young readers and writers embark upon writing their own historically based story, with a focus on developing ideas and details throughout the piece. In small groups, class...
Museum of the American Revolution
People of the Revolution
It's nothing new—America has always been a melting pot of cultures. The resource explores the diversity of individuals living in the American colonies during the Revolutionary War. Scholars examine artifacts and primary sources to...
Education World
A Walk Through The 20th Century
Students review the people, places, and events of a particular decade of the 20th Century. They write a report about that decade and create a booth of memorabilia, music, dress, pictures and other artifacts representing the time period.
US House of Representatives
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
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...
Digital Public Library of America
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Any classroom study of Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved requires careful planning and scaffolding. A primary source set that includes a video, illustrations, photos of artifacts, and a broadside of the Fugitive Slave...
Curated OER
Crystal Blue Persuasion
Students examine historic posters, jewelry, quilts and buttons that were created to protest or call attention to a political issue. After evaluating how these items were used to communicate a political message, students create an item...
Curated OER
If a Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...
Students examine the debate between the preservation of and access to historical artifacts. They explore the notion of ownership and commodification of historical artifacts and come up with a plan for compromise.
Curated OER
Tea for Two
High schoolers examine how certain items can link family and friends together in unique and interesting ways. They analyze how historic artifacts have helped people connect in the past by focusing on a silver teapot used by a family in...
Curated OER
Public Displays of Contention
Students consider historic events or movements that may be viewed as controversial by different groups of people, and then create proposals supporting the inclusion of specific artifacts to be displayed in related museum exhibit
Urbana School District
Knocking Down Fences
After reading The Other Side and guiding children through a picture walk, third graders investigate evidence of the civil rights movement. In the mini unit, 3rd graders analyze photographs of the past and make connections between...
Smithsonian Institution
World War I
How did World War I effect the United States' status as a world power? Pupils examine a website to learn many interesting facts about American involvement during World War I. They read passages and interact with artifacts in an online...
Curated OER
Conversing with an Object
Students analyze museum artifacts and create conversations between these inanimate objects using prior historical knowledge. In this museum artifact lesson, students create theoretical dialogue between historical artifacts in order to...