Curated OER
The Zabbaleen, Cairo's Garbage Workers
Here is a fascinating human geography study of the Zabbaleen. They are a sub-class of people who work as garbage collectors in Cairo, Egypt. I can't say enough good things about this resource in my limited space here. It is fabulous! If...
Curated OER
Assessing Research Materials
Teaching learners how to evaluate a research source is an important part of the research process. The fresh idea here is that groups first develop a list of reasons why resources should be evaluated, transform these reasons into...
Curated OER
The Roots of Prohibition: Examining the Effort to Prohibit Alcohol in America
Five segements from Ken Burns' documentary series Prohibition, easily accessed on the PBS website, are at the center of a terrific short unit on the roots of America's ambivalent relationship with alcohol. Engage your secondary class...
Curated OER
The Human Mind, Alcohol and the Brain
Students create a diagram showing the effects of alcohol on the brain and then create a lesson plan to teach this information to middle school students. They contact middle school teachers and make arrangements for students to actually...
Curated OER
Mythology Research Project: Freshmen English
Ninth graders work in pairs and research a mythological figure, focusing on how the myth leads to an understanding of the "human condition." They compile information, summarize the myth, and develop a plan for written and oral reports.
Curated OER
Global Awareness
Students read about how scientists are arriving at current theories of human origin and migration through mitochondrial DNA analysis. They then piece together a map showing the data from mitochondrial DNA analysis to plot the migration...
Curated OER
Crude Conversation
Students analyze text and maps in determining the effect the world's energy resources have on human society, and make charts illustrating at least three ways each resource makes life easier for human society.
Curated OER
Communities in Crisis Lesson 1: Primary Source? What is That?
Distinguish between primary and secondary source documents using the theme of philanthropy. Middle schoolers discuss Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl as a way to study the past using a primary source. Then they investigate how to...
National Institute of Open Schooling
Compounds of Carbon Containing Nitrogen
Amines are vital to humans because they help form amino acids, the building blocks of proteins. The 30th lesson in a series of 36 specifically focuses on the organic compounds that contain nitrogen. Learners classify amines and nitro...
Curated OER
it's Lonely At The Top
Students explore the differnences between food producers in food webs and food consumers in food chains. Behavioral choices of primary and secondary consumers such as herbivores, vegetarians, carnivors, and omnivors are analyzed.
Maryland Department of Education
Our Children Can Soar
Amazing efforts of African American leaders are celebrated in a lesson on civil participation. The engaging resource focuses on primary and secondary sources to analyze the impact of African American leaders such as Ella Fitzgerald....
Odyssey of the Mind
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: My Robot and Me
Robots and their interactions with their human counterparts are the catalyst for a fun writing lesson. First, the class brainstorms what they'd like to have their personal robot do or be capable of. Then, they each write a humorous story...
Curated OER
Introducing Topographic Maps: Guiding Students from Concrete Models to Graphic Representations
Students interpret topographic maps and infer human activity as it is influenced by the landscape.
Speak Truth to Power
Harry Wu: Forced Labor
Over the course of two class periods, young historians explore human rights issues; specifically, forced labor in China. This resource provides everything you need, including relevant vocabulary, an anticipatory activity, and a...
Smithsonian Institution
Barn Again! Celebrating an American Icon
How do barns serve as a window to a community's past? Here are a series of lessons on the symbolism and historical context of barns throughout American history. Topics include community-building, in-depth primary and secondary source...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Albert Sabin and Bioethics: Testing at the Chillicothe Federal Reformatory
Do the ends justify the means? Getting a drug approved in the US is a long and involved process. But at some point out, it involves testing on humans. The ethics of such testing is the focus of a resource that uses Dr. Albert Sabin's...
It's About Time
Succession in Communities
What occurs following a natural disaster? High schoolers research this question and others as they investigate natural succession after a disaster. First, as they differentiate between primary and secondary succession, they explain how...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Holocaust: Bystanders and Upstanders
Scholars analyze the role of bystanders during the Holocaust. The investigation explores the roles of the bystanders, upstanders, and rescuers with primary and secondary resources to determine actions taken—or not—and their implications...
Open Colleges
Your Brain Map: Strategies for Accelerated Learning
The brain is a complex organ with many different structures and functions. An interactive diagram allows learners to explore the different structures while pop-ups describe their functions. Secondary interactives show the structures of...
Curated OER
Lesson 23: Reproduction - Day 5: Birth Control
Students with mild to moderate disabilities discuss human reproduction and the importance of preventing pregnancy. They review reproductive anatomy, sexual decision making, and what birth control is. The lesson concludes with a...
Japan Society
The “I” Novels in the Context of Early 20th-Century Japan
Although this lesson plan covers the rather obscure topic of the Japanese "I-novel", it also includes a great deal of historical information and material for an in-depth discussion of universal literary concepts. Specifically, young...
Mathematics Vision Project
Module 3: Arithmetic and Geometric Sequences
Natural human interest in patterns and algebraic study of function notation are linked in this introductory unit on the properties of sequences. Once presented with a pattern or situation, the class works through how to justify...
Science Matters
Wave Watching
Seismologists use the direction and arrival times of p waves and s waves to determine the distance to the source of an earthquake. The engaging lesson has students line up to form human waves. Through different movements when attached,...
Curated OER
Cabeza de Vaca Meets the Coahuiltecans
Students examine the difference between primary and secondary sources by examining the journal of Cabeza de Vaca and creating a poster about the Coahuitecan Indian groups. They portray a scene of the groups in 16th Century south Texas.