Messenger Education
Snow Goggles and Limiting Sunlight
Why would someone need contact lenses that offer UV protection? With a 28-page packet full of instruction and worksheets, learners discuss solar radiation and its potential harm to eyes. They make snow goggles similar...
PBS
Using Primary Sources: The Rogue's Gallery
What would be in your life's scrapbook? Scholars use short video clips, primary and secondary documents, and photos to investigate a 1909 scrapbook. They analyze and uncover what the Rogue Book tells them about the past in Western...
Henry Ford Museum
You Can Be an Innovator ... Like Henry Ford
Why did Henry Ford want to invent a car for the masses? Why did Henry Ford locate his factory in Detroit? Why did Henry Ford encourage the idea of a 5-day work week? Young innovators find the answers to these and other question in a unit...
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
WWII Position Paper
There are some historical events that may warrant greater reflection and more in-depth analysis, and the decision to intern Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, as well as to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and...
History with Peters
A Clear Signal for Change: Multiple Interpretations and Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Was Nat Turner a hero or a violent criminal? Using primary sources and images that discuss the rebellion of enslaved people he led in antebellum Virginia, scholars consider the question. Then, they create memorials to Turner and...
American Museum of Natural History
Create a Compass
Historically, humans have used many methods of finding due north. Using a hands-on activity, learners create their own compasses. They then test their compasses in their neighborhood or to assist with stargazing.
National First Ladies' Library
Why Do We Have Libraries?
Students investigate the reason and origins of libraries and conduct an information search using a variety of resources. They are divided into groups that have a specific set of questions they are to answer. Each group will then complete...
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Students draw their own conclusions by studying documents created in the past.
Curated OER
Political Issues and Opinions
The emergent adults in your US Government class can become informed, self-aware voters. This activity enables them to form an opinion about particular political issues then identify themselves on the political spectrum. Informed and...
Curated OER
Infrared Telescope
Most of the twenty slides in this presentation include photographs or diagrams, making it an eye-catching way to teach about infrared telescopes. The pros and cons of using infrared light to study outer regions of space are explained....
Curated OER
Creating Historians: Giving Scholars the Answers
How allowing index cards on tests can empower critical thinking; part one of a series on approaching social studies as a group of historians.
Facing History and Ourselves
Confirmation and Other Biases
As the investigation into the reporting of the events in Ferguson, Missouri, continues, class members consider how bias influences perception, how the tendency is to collect evidence that supports preconceived notions. The big idea...
Curated OER
Common People of the American Revolution
Eleventh graders study the people of the American Revolution. In this American History lesson, 11th graders participate in a simulation that explains the different people of this time.
Curated OER
Ancient Man in Asia
Seventh graders analyze and synthesize information about major historical developments by interpreting data, evaluation sources of information, identifying and comparing experiences and perspectives from multiple cultural perspectives.
Curated OER
Creating Life Maps (Elementary, Reading/Writing)
Students create a personal life timeline to better explain how a historical timeline is effective in studying history. They also write a poem about themselves.
Civil War
Civil War Medicine: Fact or Fiction
Young historians compare the presentation of medical care during the Civil War in passages from fictional and nonfictional texts. They examine passages from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and Soldier's...
Curated OER
Bridge to the Future: Enlarging the European Union
The political, social, and economic challenges the European Union faces as it enlarges is the focus of a six-lesson unit. Class members investigate and craft a presentation about a member country, the treaties member states must...
Center for Civic Education
The Power of Nonviolence: Music Can Change the World
Here is a fantastic activity through which class members discover how music has the ability to influence others in a meaningful way. After reviewing selected pieces and modern-day protest songs, learners will research other songs that...
Curated OER
Why do people mover where they do?
Learners read factual stories of migration to Hawaii, analyze and explain push and pull factors, interview parents about their cultural heritage, identify countried of origin of their ancestors, graph migration patterns on an world map,...
Curated OER
Prepping for a World War I Test
Review your WWI unit with this helpful resource. Young historians group up, complete a series of web-based activities, take a pop quiz, and examine the contents of a trunk considering items that would be most important during WWI. The...
Curated OER
The Fountain of Youth
Seventh graders study Ponce de Leon and the Fountain the Fountain of Youth. Using a real life analogy, 7th graders compare the skills of a conquistador to that of a professional basketball player. They discover reasons why the...
Curated OER
TEACHING OUR MANY GRANDCHILDREN
Students study the connection between where Villages are set up and the natural resources nearby. They interact with Elders to gain historical appreciation of their culture and investigate how their Village came to be located where it is.
Curated OER
The American Flag
Third graders study the American flag and its importance. In this American flag lesson, 3rd graders practice the Pledge of Allegiance, discuss and learn the meaning of the American flag stripes, stars, and colors, and sing 'America the...
Curated OER
The Roots of the Afro-American Culture: The Artistic Approach
Pupils study the geographical structure of the continent of Africa. They discuss how and why there are so many tribes and kingdoms of Africa and dsicuss customs and traditions to determine how they come about in any ethnic group.