Twelfth graders select and analyze a public policy issue. In groups, they create a hot list of web sites that have been explored and investigated as a result of a web search. Using their research, 12th graders individually produce a...

David Binnington's mural commemorating the 1936 Battle of Cable Street is the focus of a lesson that looks at public art as a form of civic participation. After reading background material about the mural, individuals analyze a segment...

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...

Young scholars examine the need for a national library. In this Library of Congress lesson, students analyze primary sources to investigate the persuasive techniques that Thomas Jefferson used in a letter meant to show his...

Students understand the importance of books in past and present societies. In this philanthropic lesson, students compare Andrew Carnegie and Benjamin Franklin's perspective on the importance of everyone being able to read. Students...

In celebration of renowned cartoonist Herb Block's Library of Congress exhibition, this handout includes 2 of his famous political cartoons for scholars to analyze. Background information describes "Herblock's" career, and talking points...

Are Civil War monuments a kind remembrance or a reminder of a dark past? The lesson plan focuses on the public's memory of the Civil War and the monuments that represent it. Young academics explore past efforts to change historical...

Students research primary sources about the Bracero worker program. In this primary source lesson, students investigate two public laws along with other documents to determine if the Bracero worker program was implemented properly. They...

As part of a study of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, young historians imagine the feelings of those who lived during the attack by creating a word cloud of 10 words they think express the emotions of people at that time....

Emerging orators distinguish between effective and ineffective public speaking strategies. They read a text that fits in with a Native Americans unit and speak about the text with both ineffective and effective volume, tone, phrasing,...

Through a careful reading and examination of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, scholars take part in grand conversations about the novel's contents, slavery, and the impact the book had on it. Furthermore,...

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your. country.” Did you know that John Kenneth Galbraith, Adlai Stevenson, and Theodore Sorensen helped John F. Kennedy craft his 1961...

Young scholars compare and contrast public and private land. In this philanthropy lesson, students identify public areas in the school and create posters about taking care of various public places.

Students take a virtual tour of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library. In this Kennedy presidency lesson, students access the library via the Internet and take notes on the experience. Students write essays using the information they...

Campaign propaganda has evolved from 1952 through the presidential election of 2008. A social studies activity prompts class members to analyze the devices used in ads and political cartoons, noting strategies they believe would work to...

I Have A Dream ... that after the lesson, all individuals master the reading, writing, researching, listening, and speaking skills the biography project helps them develop. Martin Luther King, Jr. serves as a topic example for a model...

Young scholars study public issues and become more aware of local issues.  For this economics instructional activity students are given some local controversial issues and several viewpoints to analyze.  They then research and...

Fourth graders study the details of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake including the fires that lasted for three days. They participate in discussion describing what they feel the city looked like after the earthquake and fires. They...

How did the Emancipation Proclamation lead to the Thirteenth Amendment? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents including the text of the Emancipation Proclamation, political cartoons, photographs, and prints to understand...

Students access the Library of Congress's collection of Broadsides (printed material with news, entertainment, advertisements, etc.) and explore their impact on events leading up to the Revolutionary War. They create a timeline with...

What is a good citizen? Here is a fantastic unit of ten lessons that will thoroughly cover the concept of civics and citizenship in your class. Examples of activities include learning stations, primary and secondary source analysis of...

How did Abraham Lincoln begin to change the minds of American citizens? Join him in his quest with a reading passage about Lincoln's experiences as a congressman and public denouncement of slavery. The resource contains reading...

Eleventh graders examine the the Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee. In this state history lesson, 11th graders create a timeline of events. Students write journal entries about their visit to the Nashville Public Library.