High schoolers take on the role of epidemiologists. They investigate an "outbreak" in serious birth defects that occur in infants born to teenage girls. students discover a link between the use of the acne drug called Accutane and birth...

The historical background for Fever 1793 is the focus of a pre-reading strategy that has class groups rotate through a series of stations stocked with photographs, articles, and other texts that describe the Yellow Fever outbreak of...

There is no escaping fever in 1793. Mattie, a main character, soon learns that a disease outbreak has taken over much more than her hometown. Scholars discover how Mattie responds to her circumstances by learning new vocabulary and...

Students research the bubonic plague including disease facts, the time frame of outbreaks and the impact it had on society. They examine the work of Edgar Allen Poe and write an essay explaining why the plague was a subject of interest...

Eleven slides make up a presentation that details the importance of practicing social distancing and what can be done at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Scholars take part in the classroom discussion highlighting topics such as...

Students investigate the causes and characteristics of volcanic eruptions including pyroclastic eruptions. They study the effects of natural disasters.

W.H. Auden’s poem “Refugee Blues” launches a study of the problems of refugees. Background information about the poem and general information about Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria are provided, as are discussion questions and...

Transform a written biography into a video biography! Introduce your learners to the biography format by reading them a few examples (some suggestions are included). Then discuss the factors that make a good biography. What information...

The various peace proposals, made by both sides, to end the Revolutionary War come under scrutiny in this final lesson of a three-part series on the war. Class members read primary source documents and compare them with military...

Students examine World War I and its consequences. In this World War I lesson, students watch the Discovery video "World War I and Its Aftermath." Students then research how nationalism contributed to the spread of the war...

Multiple-choice and true-false questions assess your high schoolers' understanding of food safety. This is an interactive worksheet in which learners can click on the correct answers to discover explanations. You could type the questions...

"Love it or leave it." "You're either for us or against us." Rhetoric and it's polarizing effects are the focus of a lesson that uses John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry as an exemplar. Groups examine primary source documents,...

Centered on the short story "The Tenth Man" by Polish Holocaust survivor Ida Fink, here is a solid one-day resource to support study of World War II or Nazi history, short stories, or to complement any ELA unit on The Diary of Anne Frank...

Who is Oedipus? Use this crossword puzzle to preload vocabulary relevant to Oedipus the King or to review vocabulary after your class has finished Sophocles' classic work. Answers are not provided, and some definitions are tricky!

While the French Revolution could be considered inspired by the American Revolution, it created thorny problems for the new United States. Should the United States get involved and be drawn into a European drama? Was the US strong...

Combine informational reading skills with fictional text in an innovative historical fiction lessons. After reading a fictional text related to diseases, class members read non-fictional text to gain knowledge about specific infectious...

Jack the Ripper terrorized London in the late 1800s. An educator's guide for the novel The Name of the Star places the historical figure in a modern context. Readers complete a pre-reading activity before answering a series of discussion...

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter—are they good for society? Pupils prepare for a class debate in which they voice their opinions on the issue. They read the main pro and con arguments, explore others' opinions, view videos, and discover the...

The Scarlet Letter is a treasure trove of topics awaiting exploration by readers of Nathaniel Hawthorne's romantic opus. Whether looking for imagery (light/dark, mirror, scarlet letters), symbols (static or evolving), ironies, etc.,...

A PowerPoint fill-in-the-blanks exam that tests learners knowledge of the life and times of William Shakespeare? Why not? The presentation could be used as a general review or as an introductory activity to assess prior knowledge.

Look at images depicting the Salem Witch Trials and read a few character descriptions. Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are featured with the remaining slides being pictures. Show your history or English class this slide as you read...

In this bird flu instructional activity, students read the article, answer true and false questions, complete synonym matching, complete phrase matching, complete a gap fill, answer short answer questions, answer discussion questions,...

Students explore the C.D.C.'s efforts to become better equipped to battle bioterrorism; they then discuss surveillance, epidemiological, and communications issues related to their program.

Students study about a deadly disease decimating the Tasmanian devil population. They research diseases that affect animals and write a fictional story about the animals they researched.