Exploring our Community

Take a longer look at a formative time in history with a lesson that explores the causes of the American Civil War. After viewing a series of images and explanations for various forces at play, middle schoolers choose the images that...

When Christopher Columbus landed, he found many things to comment on. Have your class read this letter that he wrote to Luis de Sant Angel in 1493. The text is split up into sections. Each section is paired with two to three...

Young scholars relive history as they examine primary sources that document everyday life in the California missions. During a class viewing of the included slideshow presentation, children analyze documents, paintings, and...

Much like the methods of group work, the writers of the Federalist Papers worked together to advocate for their viewpoints against the anti-federalists. The resource enables learners to break into small groups and conduct research before...

Just what is the census for? Using data and census questions, class members explore how officials gather information. Then, they consider how the government uses the answers to determine how it spends its money with a collaborative...

Assign groups of middle school oceanographers to research one of the following underwater robots; ABE, Herculues, ROPOS, RCV-150, Tiburon, or general purpose ROVs. An included handout guides them through information to be gathered. Each...

...Then the water heater exploded like a bomb. Using a video of an exploding water heater, the resource presents the definitions of energy, potential energy, and kinetic energy to be used in later lessons of the unit.

What role did Buffalo, New York play in the Underground Railroad? Young historians investigate the Underground Railroad ties to Buffalo and western New York. They create a web site or multimedia presentation based on the research. If...

Explore key moments in American history with the click of a mouse! Learners read 50 questions from different eras in early America, and watch the rest of the presentation to find more questions to answer.

Explore the Great Depression! Discover the challenges people experienced during the time period. Learners investigate photographs from the Dust Bowl and WWII era and create a story line about the photographs, writing a newspaper article...