OpenStax
Open Stax: Great Awakening and Enlightenment
This section of a chapter on "The English Empire" explains the significance of the Great Awakening and describes the genesis, central ideas, and effects of the Enlightenment in British North America.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap European: Enlightenment
AP European History learning module on the Enlightenment.
Franklin and Marshall College
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary: Franklin and the American Enlightenment [Pdf]
Essay on the Enlightenment as typified in America by Benjamin Franklin.
Lumen Learning
Lumen: American Literature: Video: Edwards and the Transition to Enlightenment
Use the video "Edwards and the Transition to Enlightenment" to consider the two learning outcomes below. It featuring discussions of Raymond Williams's model of culture; Edward Taylor; Jonathan Edwards; Benjamin Franklin; George...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Colonial Society and Culture the Enlightenment
An overview of how the Age of Enlightenment influenced the American colonies in thought, Benjamin Franklin, and the colony of Georgia.
iCivics
I Civics: The Enlightenment Mini Lesson
The Enlightenment was a period of time, starting around 1715, when people developed new ideas about human existence, including people's basic rights and the purpose of government. When our Founding Fathers created a government for the...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment's emphasis on reason shaped philosophical, political, and scientific discourse from the late 17th to the early 19th century. This article traces the Enlightenment back to its roots in the aftermath of the Civil War, and...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Enlightenment: "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!" by Patrick Henry
Use the video and text of "Give me liberty, or give me death!" a quotation by Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Virginia Convention in 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, to consider the two learning outcomes...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Enlightenment: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Use the text or audio of Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin to consider the two learning outcomes below. Describe the major historical and cultural developments of the Enlightenment; explain key concepts. Describe the major conventions,...
Mother Earth Travel
Mother Earth Travel: The Age of Enlightened Absolutism, 1648 1789
Article on the History of Germany and the Age of Enlightenment, 1648 to 1789.
Steven Kreis, PhD
The History Guide: The Enlightenment
A great essay on the Enlightenment period of the 18th century with hyperlinks to many individuals and movements of the time. A very scholarly look at the "age of enlightenment."
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: The Enlightenment Thinkers
Links to a concentration game where students must match famous Enlightenment thinkers to their ideas.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking: Impact of Enlightenment
The ideas of the Enlightenment began in Europe, but they were acted upon in the American colonies. See how the philosophies of John Locke and Rousseau influenced the thoughts and actions of Puritan clergy and political figures like...
Buddha Dharma Education Association
Buddha Net: Bodh Gaya Place of Enlightenment
A profile of the Bodh Gaya, the place where Gautama Buddha attained unsurpassed, supreme Enlightenment, and the pilgrimage site there, the Maha Bodhi Temple.
The British Museum
British Museum: Online Tours: Enlightenment: Art and Culture
Online tour of objects in the museum's galleries explains attempts by eighteenth-century scholars to classify art according to Enlightenment ideas and ideals.
CPALMS
Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: Enlightenment Ideas and the Founding Fathers
A tutorial that looks at the ideas from the Enlightenment that influenced the Founding Fathers, particularly those of John Locke and Montesquieu. A PDF file of the tutorial is available.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Images of Enlightenment: Aniconic vs Iconic Depictions of Buddha
Some of the earliest depictions of the Buddha reaching enlightenment appear as sculptural friezes on the exterior of sacred Buddhist monuments known as stupas. View pictures of these friezes and read the history of Prince Siddhartha in...
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: Enlightened Absolutism
Meet three significant absolutist monarchs from the Enlightened period. The PowerPoint will detail the significance of Enlightened Absolutism, also referred to as Enlightened despotism.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Enlightenment Philosophers and American Government
[Free Registration/Login Required] The lesson is designed to review the main thoughts and ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers and how their ideas contributed to the American governmental system.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Constitutional Rights Foundation: Developments in Democracy
Learning activity in which students study the ideas of Enlightenment philosophers, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. Lesson includes individual, group and whole class activity in which students write, discuss and debate the role...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Enlightening Explorations, Part Ii
This instructional activity engages students in learning about light. Studets will describe how light is produced, reflected, refracted, and separated.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Enlightening Explorations
This lesson engages students in making observations about different features of light. Students will circulate in different light stations, reflect on what they have observed, and then write about what they learned.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Enlightening Explorations, Part Iii
This instructional activity contains the following labs: Rainbows, Refraction with Prisms, and What Color Is It? Students will study light by reading various nonfiction texts and viewing a video instructional activity. Then students will...
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
Learning module in which students study the Scientific Revolution and explore the dramatic change in the way people thought about the world during the 17th and 18th Centuries. Unit includes videos, unit guide and primary sources.