iCivics
Step Four: Working with Websites
Almost every profession today relates to websites in some way! The resource tasks the class to fill out three individual graphic organizers to help them analyze each website they visit.
Curated OER
Research Skills: Evaluating Information and Sources
While this focuses on Ancient Rome, the objectives are improved research and information evaluation skills. In one class period, class members narrow their topic, research it, select the best information, log useful sources, and discuss...
Curated OER
The Great War: Evaluating the Treaty of Versailles
Young scholars examine and evaluate the Treaty of Versailles. They read and discuss primary source documents, explore various websites, develop a list of postwar goals for France, Germany, and the U.S., and evaluate whether the treaty...
iCivics
Candidate Evaluation
How can we decide between candidates on election day? After contemplating various issues and qualities, your learners will go through a step-by-step process of researching and evaluating sample candidates and determining their...
Curated OER
Arti-Factual Evidence
Practice responding to controversial information with the New York Times lesson plan provided here. Middle schoolers watch a video interview with the director of The Lost Tomb of Jesus. After reading a companion article, they...
Curated OER
Evaluating Web Sites for Bias
Students become familiar with checklist they use to evaluate Web content for bias. They use the checklist to evaluate two Web sites from very different sources.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 1: The First Great Awakening
High schoolers examine the First Great Awakening and how it affected religious belief in colonial America. They read and analyze primary source documents, explore various websites, and write a five-paragraph essay examining the beliefs...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 1: On the Road with Marco Polo: A Boy in 13th Century Venice
Learners investigate Marco Polo's life as a young boy in 13th century Venice. They analyze maps, explore various websites, complete a chart and answer discussion questions, and create a travel brochure about visiting 13th century Venice.
Curated OER
Online Information: Fact or Fiction
Discuss ways to determine if the information middle and high schoolers gather online is accurate. Using the Internet, they cite two sources that show conflicting points of view on a subtopic of conservation. They summarize and analyze...
Channel Islands Film
Island Rotation: Lesson Plan 3
How far have California's Channel islands moved? What was the rate of this movement? Class members first examine data that shows the age of the Hawaiian island chain and the average speed of the Pacific Plate. They then watch West...
Curated OER
The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Here is an excellent set of five short lessons and activities intended to help learners not only gain an understand of current issues in Africa, but build critical thinking, synthesis, analysis, expository writing, research, and...
Museum of Tolerance
Developing Media Literacy
To protect young people from questionable content, many schools limit access. This resource suggests that because learners can so readily avail themselves to unrestricted Internet access, it is vital for 21st century...
Visa
The Influence of Advertising
Pupils become informed consumers and citizens with this lesson on the influence of advertising, identifying basic advertising techniques and discriminating between fact and claim in modern advertisements and commercials.
Channel Islands Film
Once Upon a Time (Sa Hi Pa Ca): Lesson Plan 3
What was the most significant tool used by the Chumash? How did the environment make the tool possible? What group behaviors allowed the Chumash be be successful for thousands of years? After watching West of the West's documentary Once...
Curated OER
Charts, Maps, and Graphs Lesson on the Holocaust
Students practice interpreting data. In this Holocaust lesson, students research selected Internet sources and examine charts, maps, and graphs regarding the Jewish populations in and out of Europe. Students respond to questions about...
Curated OER
Darfur: Violence and the Media
Learners read an article on Darfur prior to class, discuss the conflict in Darfur, visit a series of websites, and complete a worksheet evaluating the reporting and sources used. They view films on genocide to decide if the Darfur...
Visa
Bank or Bust: Selecting a Banking Partner
Why shouldn't we just save all our money in our mattress? Couldn't our money disappear? Pupils discover the benefits of utilizing banks and credit unions for saving money, as well as how to evaluate different types of...
Curated OER
Judges in the Classroom: Unfair of Deceptive Sales Practices
Middle and high schoolers learn to judge fair and unfair sales practices. They read, discuss, and work through hypothetical situations to evaluate whether the sales practices were deceptive or unfair. Handouts are included.
Practical Money Skills
Protecting Your Money
How can you tell if a commercial or salesperson is being misleading? Encourage your learners to protect themselves and their money with a lesson about consumer rights. They review laws that keep consumers safe from faulty claims and...
Judicial Learning Center
About Federal Judges: Qualifications of Judges
"Help Wanted: A Supreme Court Justice." What should be included in the ad? Learners ponder the question during a lively activity that asks them to examine the qualifications for various federal offices and then create job postings....
Alabama Department of Archives and History
A Worse Death: War or Flu?
In a lesson that integrates history and mathematics, class members create graphs that compare military death statistics from World War I with those that resulted from the influenza pandemic of 1918.
Annenberg Foundation
America's History in the Making: Using Digital Technologies
How can digital technology of today link us to the events of the past? Scholars use technology to uncover the vast number of historical resources available in lesson 12 of a 22-part America's History in the Making series. Using databases...
The New York Times
Collateral Damage? Researching a Connection Between Video Games and Violence
Hook your class into an exploration of and discussion about violence in video games with a cute animal clip and a video game trailer. After a quick discussion about how media can affect mood, class members read a related article and...
Curated OER
California's Golden History: 1848-1880
Using a variety of online resources, learners study life and society in California during the gold rush. They use a map to identify area where gold was located, explore pre-selected websites, describe mining practices, and create an...