Curated OER
Look Before You Think: How To Appreciate a Painting
Students develop an elementary understanding of the history of art. They study the basic elements of a painting including perspective, composition, color, light and symbolism. They look at each selected painting and analyze it, moving...
Curated OER
The World of Puppets
Learners visit given web-sites to find out what puppets look like in different countries and then make a puppet and write a play for it.
Curated OER
Teaching about the Rainforest - Classroom Ideas
Students are introduced to the tropical rainforest through different ways that catch their attention such as: Visit a local botanical garden or conservatory so that students can see the variety of tropical plants in the world. They...
Curated OER
One Room School House Reading Lesson
Students explore schools during the Colonial period. In this American history lesson, students participate in a simulation of school days in Colonial America. Students visit a museum and use the schoolhouse as a setting for their...
Curated OER
So, So Surreal Self-Portraits
Students take virtual trip back in time to 1924 when a Dada manifesto sparked the Surrealist movement in Europe and the United States. They explore about the history of Surrealism and visit online galleries of notable artists of the past...
Curated OER
"When They Came for Me, There Was No One Left to Speak Up" - Exploring Personal and Collective Responsibility in WWII
Learners examine the underlying meaning of the phrase spoken by Pastor Martin Niemoller in 1945, "When they came for me, there was no one left to speak up." In this World History lesson, students share in a class discussion on...
Curated OER
Language Arts: Conversing with an Object
Students sharpen their creative writing skills by writing dialogues with unfamiliar objects while visiting local museums. They select an object in the museum, such as a painting, and create conversations between the people or animals...
Curated OER
From Airmail to Airlines
Young scholars explore changes in air transportation from 1920 to the present. In this air flight lesson plan, students are introduced to the history of air transportation. This lesson plan contains three different activities that will...
Curated OER
Ben Franklin and the Rising Americans
Students prepare for and learn through a walking tour of Philadelphia. In this history lesson, students support their studies with a field trip. This lesson could be adapted to suit regions with other historic places or museums.
Curated OER
Airplanes and Airports: How To Take Off Without Ever Leaving the Ground
Students plan an airport visit. In this Airplanes and Airports activity, students observe the people, activity, and machinery at airports. Then students compare the characteristics of their observations at the airport. Students make...
Curated OER
Rural Voices Through Photography
Students research the history of the Depression particularly in the ways it was documented by photography. Then they take their own pictures in the style of one of the best documentarians, Dorothea Lange.
Curated OER
Understanding Tenement Life
Students look at life for immigrants in the 19th century. In this immigrant lesson plan, students discuss how the poor German, Irish, Italian, and Jewish immigrants lived in tenement housing. They research the reasons they came to...
Curated OER
Women In Aviation
In this aviation lesson, students take an electronic field trip to the Aviation Museum of Kentucjy. In the process the lesson looks at women in aviation history. The focus is upon how they could be considered heroes or role models. The...
Curated OER
Medieval and Renaissance Art at the Art Institute
Young scholars examine several Medieval and Renaissance works of art, including painting and sculpture, at the Art Institute of Chicago. They use worksheets and discussion questions to enhance their interpretation of the pieces.
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Do You See What I See?
Can art play tricks on your eyes, and can a still painting really appear to vibrate? The second lesson in a four-part series discusses the way our beautiful brains translate visual images. It highlights the style of optical art and...
University of Minnesota
Beautiful Brain: Step Inside the Brain
Before digital microscopes, scientists hired artists to draw the things visible in the microscope. Through training in neuroscience and art, Cajal revolutionized the way we view the beautiful brain. The third lesson in a series of four...
American Museum of Natural History
If Rocks Could Talk
Meet some interesting rocks. Learners discover information about the three types of rocks and different rocks that are within each group. They read imaginary interviews with six rocks as each rock tells the story of their formation and a...
American Museum of Natural History
Journey to the Stars
Fifteen detailed pictures and informative captions delve deep into the exploration of stars—their life cycle and importance in the universe.
Curated OER
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: How to Analyze a Historic Photograph
Students analyze historical images. In this primary source analysis activity, students examine an photograph of Hershey, PA from the 1920's. Students collaborate with one another and their instructor to note the details in the photograph...
Curated OER
Chief Sealthe's Speech
Students explain the conflict over land between Native Americans and the United States government. They evaluate Native American values and the results of the U.S. expansion into Native American lands.
Curated OER
Virtual Ellis Island Museum Unit:
Students conduct secondary source research using the internet and library resources to research the backgrounds of their family's cultural and ethnic heritages.
Curated OER
A Brief History of Los Angeles
Students study the diverse cultures that make up the population of Los Angeles.
Curated OER
Businesses and Communities on the Move
In this American transportation history worksheet, students read about various forms of transportation and respond to 16 multiple choice and short answer questions regarding trains, streetcars, automobiles, and trucks.
Curated OER
Out and About: Railways
Students explore British Railway history. In this railway lesson plan, students may visit the Natural Railway Museum, the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, or Steam - Museum of the Great Western Railway online or in-person to...