US National Archives
Docsteach: Watching What?
Students will hypothesize what the president and cabinet members were watching on television by analyzing facial expressions, and body language, and the physical environment. Students will learn that President Ronald Reagan and his staff...
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Big Ideas of the u.s. Constitution
In this activity students will identify and define seven key ideas contained in the U.S. Constitution by making matches from the grid. They will then analyze documents that demonstrate each big idea in action.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Reasons for Westward Expansion
Students will examine a variety of documents that reference reasons why Americans living in the East migrated west of the Mississippi immediately before, during, and right after the Civil War. Documents cover the mining industry, new...
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Impact of Westward Expansion on Native American Groups
In this activity, students will examine the impact of westward expansion and settlement on Native American groups following the Civil War. Students will explore a variety of documents to get a sense of the issues faced by Native...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Immigration to America: Stories and Travels
This activity asks students to match documents to individuals based on the reasons these people came to and were living in the United States. The photographs and documents are attached to government forms in some of the millions of...
US National Archives
Docsteach: A Call to Action: Responses to Civil Rights Violations
For this activity, students will be introduced to the civil right activities of Harry T. Moore, former schoolteacher and National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) official in Florida in the 1940s, and analyze the...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Indian Nations vs. Settlers on the American Frontier: 1786 1788
In this activity, students will compare and contrast two documents from the Revolutionary period written by 1) a combined group of Native American tribes and 2) an American territorial governor, Arthur St. Clair. Students will analyze...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program
This activity chronicles the Space Race from President Kennedy's call to land on the Moon until Apollo 17 - the last lunar Mission, placing particular emphasis on President Nixon's role in the space program.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Lowering the Voting Age: Nixon and the 26th Amendment
This activity encourages learners to think critically about the history and importance of the 26th Amendment, that granted the right to vote to American citizens aged eighteen or older.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Civil Rights Act, 1964 & Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
This activity asks students to read, analyze, and summarize Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Analyzing a Letter to Congress About Bloody Sunday
In this activity, students will focus on a letter written to Congress about Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. Students will determine that, due to television coverage, the author, Mrs. Jackson, was very aware of the events that day even...
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which brought an official end to the Mexican-American War, was signed on February 2, 1848. This activity asks young scholars to read and analyze the treaty to explain the overall message and tone.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Black Soldiers in the Civil War
In this activity students will analyze a two-page poster that the Government used to recruit recently freed slaves to fight for the Union Army during the Civil War. The poster refers to the Emancipation Proclamation and to President...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Documenting Key Presidential Decisions
In this activity, young scholars will identify and analyze documents related to key presidential decisions. Through close examination of the documents, students will determine which president was involved. Young scholars will then...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Half Right, Half Wrong: Analyzing a Letter About Ford Pardoning Nixon
In this activity, students will analyze a document sent from a child to President Gerald Ford in 1974. Anthony Ferreira wrote to the president to express his opinion regarding the pardon of Richard Nixon.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Petition Against Annexation of Hawaii
This activity explores a petition signed by over 21,000 native Hawaiians against a treaty that would have annexed Hawaii to the United States.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Confronting Work Place Discrimination on the World War Ii Home Front
In this activity, students will analyze primary sources and evaluate the degree to which they demonstrate Civil Rights advances following President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's 1941 Executive Order providing equal opportunity in defense...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Apollo Soyuz: Space Age Detente
In July 1975, the first joint Soviet-American spacecraft docking took place. In this activity, students will analyze the way that government officials in both the United States and the Soviet Union valued space exploration for more than...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Twelve Years a Slave
Learners will examine several documents related to the life of Solomon Northup, whose life story is told in his autobiography Twelve Years a Slave: Narrative of Solomon Northup, a Citizen of New-York, Kidnapped in Washington City in 1841...
US National Archives
Docsteach: What Kind of Leader Was General Douglas Mac Arthur?
In this activity, students will analyze video clips, photographs, and written documents related to General Douglas MacArthur to explore the controversy surrounding his career, especially the decision by President Harry S. Truman to...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Road to Revolution: Patriotism or Treason?
Students will analyze the causes of the American Revolution and examine them from various points of view. Perspectives include the Sons of Liberty, loyalists living in the colonies, patriots, and British citizens living in England.
US National Archives
Docsteach: The Settlement of the American West
Learners will analyze primary sources with an eye for cause-and-effect relationships.They will identify the roles of government policy and technological improvements in the settlement of the West, and explain their impact on Native...
US National Archives
Docsteach: Senators' Pay in the First Congress
In this activity, students will analyze a primary source document to find relevant historical data and calculate how much United States Senators were paid in the first Federal Congress.
US National Archives
Docsteach: Comparing Civil War Recruitment Posters
Learners will compare and contrast military recruitment posters to analyze various perspectives regarding the role of African Americans during the Civil War. They will determine the purpose of each poster - one recruiting black men for...