How can primary sources bring history to life? Scholars create detailed lesson plans on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in American history. The 17th installment of a 22-part program exploring American history examines...

How did women use President Wilson's ideals and rhetoric in their bid for suffrage? To answer this essential question, class groups analyze primary written documents and visual images.

What were political machines and whom did they serve? As part of a study of US immigration patterns and how these patterns influenced politics, groups investigate how Tammany Hall and other political machines gained support from voters.

Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not...

Eighth graders complete an Interdisciplinary Unit on the Muckrakers and the Progressive Movement. Students describe life in America and how Progressive Reformers changed it. identify specific problems and propose solutions. Students...

How far in the past do the roots of Jim Crow and segregation extend? Young historians closely consider this question using detailed PowerPoint slides as a basis for discussion rather than lecture, culminating in an activity where class...

Students research the Depression Era and how it contributed to the formation of the Works Progress Administration. After research, they create a skit to illustrate life during the Depression and the role of the Works Progress...

Students identify, examine and analyze photographs of the sixties to determine the forces of social change at work in America during this decade. They determine the goals of each movement and the methods used by each to achieve those goals.

As part of a study of the women elected to Congress from 1917 to 1934, groups research and then design a museum exhibit that describes the life and the congressional service of one of these women.

Political activist, suffragette, pacifist, and the first woman elected to Congress, Jeannette Rankin has been largely ignored in history and history textbooks. Young historians set out to rectify that situation by examining primary...

Suffragettes, suffragists, and anti-suffragists. A two-day, richly detailed lesson plan has young historians investigate the twentieth-century suffrage movement. Groups examine primary and secondary source materials about Jane Addams and...

What is more important: building a new school or preserving a nature reserve? Keeping a natural area clean or providing clean drinking water to a city of millions? Young scholars weigh these questions—almost literally—using an...

Long before the civil rights movement, leaders were working to secure equal rights. An informative activity explains the 1922 anti-lynching campaign with a map. Scholars analyze the map, complete a worksheet, and participate in group...

Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome is the focus of an 11-page packet that includes three lesson plans, three worksheets, and a homework assignment. The first lesson introduces readers to the historical context of the novel. At the same time,...

A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...

Willa Cather's My Antonia might seem like a hard sell for today's teen readers. Rather than dramatic plot twists, trysts, and terrors, the novel celebrates the pioneer spirit that lead immigrants to a small Nebraska town. The Signet...

How is the Scientific Revolution evident in our lives today? Use this short-answer application and comprehension learning exercise as your scholars explore this progressive era. Questions have learners explaining the scientific method...

Tenth graders, after reading two excerpts about contemporary child labor situations, discuss two broad questions in detail along with the industrial boom following the Civil War conditions in the United States. They investigate how the...

Students study the challenges diverse people encountered in the late 19th century American society, how racial and ethnic events influenced America during the Progressive Era, and the conditions affecting employment and labor in the late...

Students, after reading the articles "Historical Background" and "Progressive Era: Child Labor," create a two to three page document using Inspiration that deals with either the reasons children worked, child labor laws and Lewis Hine's...

Young scholars discuss idea of social status, examine antebellum social reform movements, and compare and contrast experiences of activists who sought to improve workers' lives, end slavery, reform immigration laws, and establish voting...

What a great list of brief research projects for reviewing the era of westward expansion in the United States! Learners are directed to choose and complete three of the projects on the given list, which includes opportunities to design...

Students research the English Renaissance era. In this research lesson plan, students complete this activity before reading the story The Prince and the Pauper to learn about the history. They pick topics and work in groups to...

What does a true American represent? Scholars investigate the equal rights era of the 1960s and 1970s in the 20th installment of a 22-part series on American history. Using photographic, magazine, written, and video evidence, groups...