Studying Community Festivals

How do different communities celebrate special occasions? After researching celebrations in their countries, class members investigate other festivals like those associated with Ramadan, Diwali, Chinese New Year, Halloween, Easter,...

The final activity in a unit study of immigration and human rights asks class members to design a project for their school that builds support for immigrant classmates. To prepare for this project, individuals use what they have learned...

Tim Tyson's Blood Done Sign My Name is the anchor text in a unit study of the history of race relations and the civil rights struggle in the South. The 11 lessons are richly detailed and the unit deserves a space in your curriculum library.

How does the world population change from year to year? Mark these changes on a physical map with a geography lesson focused on global urbanization. After your class researches population trends in the last 60 years, they study...

Few Americans have heard of the burgeoning scientific community known as the America Philosophical society, started by none other than Benjamin Franklin. With inquiry, research, and discussion, high schoolers come to understand their...

Learners identify their beliefs and values and compare how these values relate to those of their community. They then determine how their values affect the roles they play in different situations. A quiz about values and beliefs...

Citizens in the modern world can't imagine making the same social choices made by many Germans in the 1920s and 1930s, but they don't realize that they actually do it every day by ostracizing others. A case study of middle schoolers...

Young scholars visit a local grocery store (not a community market) to gather information about where some commonly eaten produce items come from. Once they have collected this information, locate the countries of origin on a map and...

Active Citizenship Today (ACT) is a "unique social studies service learning program" that requires students to learn about the public policy associated with community issues they identify in their local community. This web site provides...

Sand mandalas are transitory art forms that are created by a group for the purpose of healing. Upper graders learn how Tibetan monks create these amazing works of art, and study symbolism and metaphor. Then pupils work together in a...