Curated OER
Return to Vietnam: Healing on the Hill
Pupils view a film about soldiers returning to Vietnam years after the war. They discover the need of closure by the soldiers because the war was not won. They examine the results of the war and answer questions to complete the lesson.
Curated OER
Who's Who in the Pacific War
Pupils investigate the historical figures of World War II that focuses on the fight in the South Pacific. They conduct research using a wide variety of resources. Students use the information to communicate a report in written and oral...
Curated OER
The Vikings: Woodquay, Dublin
Middle schoolers view the progamme that leads them through the process of researching an historical site. They are given the deifinition of an archaeologist. Students watch as two ten year olds are given the task of finding out as much...
Curated OER
Predicting the Past
Students study how archaeologists record the past. They discuss archaeology and artifacts. They view a list of artifacts discovered by Marquette at the Illinois Village and answer questions regarding them. They complete a test about...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Picturing a Story: Photo Essay about a Community, Event or Issue
Picture this. Class members follow in the footsteps of W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, and Lewis Hine by creating their own photo essay about a local event or issue.
J. Paul Getty Trust
Exhibiting Common Threads
Artists working in different media often explore the same themes—to model how these same themes weave their way through different forms of artistic expression, scholars analyze images by Dorothea Lange, identifying key themes in her...
Curated OER
Arkansas State Mineral: Quartz Mineral
The quartz crystals found in the mountains of Arkansas are among the purest and clearest in the world! This lesson has middle schoolers focus on this state mineral of Arkansas as they study the state's geography. A fun game is...
Curated OER
The Transit in Pictures
Students investigate the June 2004 Transit of Venus, write a screen play, and produce a movie or animation of the transit including a narration. The difference between storytelling and storyboarding is made clear in this lesson.
Curated OER
Realistic Impressions: Investigating Movements in the Visual Arts
Students explore the idea of movements in the visual arts and differentiate between some of the most well known movements in Western art. The lesson focuses on what makes a painting an example of a particular movement.
Curated OER
Signs and Symbols
Sixth graders carefully analyze a triptych of the nativity, paying close attention to the lines, shapes and symbols included in the artwork. They explore the role of the Catholic church in society at the time the piece was created and...
Curated OER
Journey to America
Fifth graders carefully analyze the artwork, Les Emigrants, and explore the reasons that people emigrated to the United States, and what life was like for new arrivals. They discuss what things immigrants were able to bring with them and...
Curated OER
The Progressive Era
Eighth graders utilize the SOAP method to analyze a work of art and relate it to what they know about the Progressive Era and the reasons why cities changed and the ways in which cities changed during the end of the 19th century. They...
Curated OER
The Impact of Cultural Values in EArly Industrial England
Tenth graders analyze works from the period of the Industrial Revolution in England and identify the cultural values depicted and inferred that paved the way for the Industrial Revolution to occur at this time. They create captions that...
Curated OER
Documenting the Great Depression
Students compare and contrast two photographs from the Great Depression, and identify the ways in which the photographers depicted the hardships of everyday life during this period. They hypothesize about the story behind each photograph...
Smithsonian Institution
Autobiography through Objects
Show youngsters how objects can tell a story! Here your class will learn about Cuban salsa dancer Celia Cruz by analyzing pictures of her dress, her shoes, and her marriage certificate. After describing Cruz's items and imagining what...
Curated OER
Magic Words, Magic Brush: The Art of William Butler and Jack Yeats
Students explore the influence of the landscape of Ireland on shaping the poetry of William Butler Yeats. They work in groups researching the growth of the Irish Nationalist Movement, Celtic origins, invasions, and the impact on the...
Curated OER
Desert Plant Adaptations in the Sonoran Desert
Students are able to identify adaptations that plants have developed to deal with harsh desert conditions, as well as explain how these adaptations help to protect these plants.
Curated OER
Using Primary Sources to Study the Holocaust
Engage your middle schoolers with Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem that begins, "First they came for the communists." Now that you have their attention, send learners to the various work stations you created to have them explore...
Curated OER
Multiple Perspectives: Newspaper Stories and Editorials
Newspapers are the perfect medium through which to explore different perspectives in informational text. After researching the fur trade and resultant colonization, groups write a newspaper, including an editorial page, selecting one of...
Curated OER
Fossil Find
Students investigate the practice of digging for fossils. They participate in a mock dig of fossils using real bones and other artifacts. Then students dig through sand in order to go through the simulation. Students make observations...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ayman Ramadan: Koshary min Zamman
Examine the avant-garde movement and artists who explore the ideas of the Situationist. The class view imaged of Ayman Ramadan's installation pieces, learn about modern-day Egypt, and research other artist who use art to express social...
Smithsonian Institution
Voices of Bull Run
Soldier's lives are often a topic when studying the Civil War, but what about the lives of civilians? Scholars use the characters from the novel Bull Run to better understand the lives of those not directly on the Civil War battlefields....
K12 Reader
What is a Tribal Government?
What is life like on a Native American reservation? Learn about the ways a tribal government works with a reading comprehension activity. After reading a short passage, kids use context clues to answer five comprehension questions.
Curated OER
Different Points of View
Considering an examination of point of view? Use visual arts to engage learners in of this element of art and literature. Class members select a portrait from the Renaissance Connection and, guided by a series of brainstorming...