Seven video clips reveal how the checks and balances built into the constitutional framework of the United states' government are designed to keep any one branch from becoming too powerful. After watching each clip, groups identify the...

Two Supreme Court cases, Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education take center stage in a lesson about the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. Class members research both cases to compare and contrast the rulings.

Most people are surprised to learn that American democracy is not as direct as they thought. Using a package of guiding questions, charts and curated videos, learners unpack the unique American institution of the Electoral College. The...

What began as an effort to show a movie by an interest group has impacted financing of federal elections. Did the Citizens United case lead to more "dark money" in politics, or did it shine a light with more speech? Using video clips...

The 1964 Selma to Montgomery, Alabama voting rights marches are the focus of a lesson designed to introduce learners to people who took part in the Civil Rights Movement. Class members set into the role of one of the participants,...

A theme runs through it. Scholars analyze how a common theme runs through the myths they have read and The Lightning Thief. They complete graphic organizers and view a four paragraph model essay. They analyze the essay for structure and...

Around and around we go! Scholars work in groups to connect The Hero's Journey and The Lightning Thief with a Carousel of Quotes activity. They then independently reflect on the two texts and answer questions about how they...

The perception of fairness in elections becomes more important with each passing election. Using data from a C-SPAN poll, budding historians consider the differences between how people perceive elections. The resource includes videos of...

Promises made and promise broken. Spies and activists. Voting rights in Mississippi are the focus of a lesson that has class members research the history of the struggle in Mississippi. Learners take on the role of voting rights...

Get the story from those who experienced it. Engage learners with a structured oral history project involving Vietnam War era veterans. By conducting thoughtful interviews, class members learn what it was like to serve in the...

Words matter. Words frame thought. Words are symbolic. Readers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale examine how the words In Gilead's "New Language" reinforce the power of the government and provided insight into the symbolic level...

The party is over. Now it's time to get to work! Learners acting as agents for a country during the modern Age of Empires develop proposals to negotiate trade deals between the rising global powers. Using research from previous lessons,...

To conclude a unit study of Jason Reynold's Ghost, class members examine how Castle's feeling about his bedroom change over the course of the novel. Groups use the provided graphic organizer to identify the plot of the novel and then use...

As part of a study of Jason Reynold's Ghost, readers take a close look at sneaker culture and how Reynold uses sneakers as a symbol in his award-winning young adult novel. Groups explore links to "Sneakerology 101", a Carnegie...

One fish, two fish, red fish, no fish. Scholars analyze World without Fish to determine the gist, identify vocabulary, and answer text-dependent questions. As learners read, they use sticky notes to annotate the text. They also work...

While most Americans connect the celebration of Thanksgiving to a colonial celebration of pilgrims and Native Americans, the national holiday was actually the product of a war-time measure by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War....

Using the harrowing story of the Crafts, a couple enslaved in the South who escaped to freedom, young historians trace the story of the Fugitive Slave Act. After examining documents, including affidavits and arrest warrants for the...

What is the best way to get a point across: a petition or a protest? Using primary sources, including a petition from Susan B. Anthony and a photo of a White House protest from the early 1900s, young historians examine what women did to...

What makes heroes and villains? A six-part unit plan asks young scholars to explore the concept of heroism and the characteristics they consider heroic and unheroic. Groups create character maps that focus on how characters are shaped by...

Times change; behaviors that were once considered acceptable can be seen in a very different light. Middle schoolers revisit the legacy of George Washington in a three-day lesson plan that uses primary sources to reveal Washington as a...

The role of women before and during the American Revolution changed dramatically. To gain an understanding of these changes, middle schoolers analyze primary source documents, including letters from women that supported the patriot cause...

Primary source texts provide scholars with the background information they need to understand why Chinese peasant farmers were driven to emigrate. After underlining keywords, phrases, and/or lines in the texts, individuals craft a...

Director Felicia Lowe's film Carved in Silence splices together re-enactments, interviews, and actual film footage to tell Angel Island Immigration Station's story. Viewers use a film matrix to record new information they learned from...

Young scholars gain insight into how historians record events by engaging in an oral history project. In preparation, class members brainstorm open-ended interview questions and take part in and debrief a mock interview simulation....