Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rhetoric and War

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the relationship between rhetoric and war. In this history of war instructional activity, students analyze paintings, photographs, movies, and articles that paint an opinionated picture of war....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Island Culture: Puerto Rico

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the culture of Puerto Rico. They create maps of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. They work in small groups to research a decade in history and add drawings and pictures to a timeline of their decade. They practice...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

If These Walls Could Talk

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Students investigate the influence of the Enlightenment on American society and government. In this Enlightenment instructional activity, students work cooperatively in groups to define the principles of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Urban China: Contemporary China

For Teachers 9th - 12th
The urbanization and consumerism of modern China is the hot topic up for critical analysis. Kids view a series of photographs that specifically describe Chinese modernization, urbanization, consumerism, and waste. They discuss each...
Unit Plan
J. Paul Getty Trust

Picturing a Story: Photo Essay about a Community, Event or Issue

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Picture this. Class members follow in the footsteps of W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, and Lewis Hine by creating their own photo essay about a local event or issue.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reporting Live from the Twentieth Century

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students create a news story on one of the top 100 news stories of the 20th century.choose one past news event. They write a news story about that event, and provide a continuation of the story based on their research.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ceramics: A Vessel into History

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a personal clay vessel that has a specific use or meaning in their contemporary culture, which could be discerned through study by future archeologists and art historians.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Wyeth Family of Artists

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students work in expert teams to research the life and work of N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and James Wyeth. N.C.'s daughters, Carolyn and Henriette, were also artists. Their visual images of work in print or on the Internet are...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Revolutionary Money

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Judiciary in American History

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students investigate the influence of political and societal forces on judicial decisions. Among the topics they examine are the selection of judges and the cause and effect relationship between politics, society, and the law. to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson Plan: The Net Neutrality Debate

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Should Internet users who send data-heavy content pay higher fees than those who are involved in activities, like sending an email, that have less content? This question is at the heart of the Net Neutrality debate. After watching a PBS...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Three Newport Mansions of the Gilded Age

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students visit the Newport Mansions. In this Gilded Age lesson, students explore the architecture and design of The Breakers, The Elms, and Marble House. Students create visual presentations that show the artistic features of the homes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Word Play

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners examine the history of Chinese American artist Xu Bing. In this multicultural lesson, students collaborate in small groups to identify letters in the artist's work, and brainstorm how they would create their own images from...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Telling Time Timeline

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Use the Internet and library resources to compose a telling time timeline -- a visual history of time. Students will develop research skills and gain perspective about telling time by discovering the history of clocks and time.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching with Primary Sources Across Tennessee: Debunking Civil War Photographs

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze photographs and texts using primary source analysis. In this primary source lesson students determine whether the photographs and text are truthful.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Jazz it Up!

For Teachers 9th - Higher Ed
Students research the history and contributions of Jazz in their local environments. They then design and create a wide variety of presentations to share with the class using as many mediums as possible.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Environmental Impact

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students analyze a 20th century photograph of a Los Angeles landscape and examine the population expansion of L.A. They discuss the principles of design, complete a worksheet, and write a research paper on overpopulation in Los Angeles.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fujiyama

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine and discuss Mt. Fuji (Fujiyama) and its effect on the culture and philosophy of Japan. This high school lesson plan is ideal for a Social Studies, Humanities, or Asian Studies class.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Heroism

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the concept of heroism in this lesson plan, through personal reflection, group activities and a thoughtful analysis of the documentary, HEROES OF GROUND ZERO. They explore their own understanding of what it means to be a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Social Studies: Exploring Boston's Big Dig

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars, in a high school class for autistic children, take a virtual tour of Boston's "Big Dig" and the artifacts discovered there. During weekly lab sessions, they discover the processes involved in artifact preservation. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Debating the bomb

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers research how the development of the atomic bomb affected people in World War II.  In this American History lesson plan, students participate in a debate about the bombs use.  High schoolers investigate how it has...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Poetry Of Chinoiserie

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine works of art that incorporate Asian export objects, and then respond to them using Japanese haiku poems. discuss the subject and meaning in a work of art. They explain the basic ideas behind Japanese haiku poetry.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Huichol Community of Mexico: Communicating with Symbols

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students study the Huichol Indians. In this Huichol instructional activity, students red The Journey of Tunuri and the Blue Deer, design a visual story using symbols, and make a painting using large paper shapes. A class mural project...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Political Cartoons

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students analyze cartoons by identifying the symbols, characters and information and its significance in history. They examine the economic and political changes in contemporary America. They determine that political cartoons play an...