We Didn't Start the Fire project

Students explore historical perspectives. In this contemporary history lesson, students listen to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire," discuss they lyrics, and add  a new verse to the song for the years 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Use these project guidelines as a start to designing your own class PowerPoint project and to consider what elements you would like to assign and assess in your class. While the resource begins with instructions for researching World War...

While the guidelines provided for this project—choose an environmental issue, research it, and design a video regarding the topics—are fairly straightforward, the resource is best utilized for its included rubric. This could be a good...

High schoolers develop their geography skills as they analyze map projections. For this ethnocentrism lesson, students participate in a classroom activity that requires them to draw maps and then analyze the projections they created for...

Eleventh graders are introduced to the events between the years 1949 and 1989. They list and explain key events and people that contributed to the development of the Cold War. Students are asked "what do you think Billy Joel meant by...

This novel approach to a discussion of the Cold War can be a way to introduce the topic in your classroom. The presentation is supposed to be played in conjunction with the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. It features lists...

Eleventh graders explore history through music. In this historical perspectives lesson, 11th graders create PowerPoint presentations to accompany Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."

How did the tradition of collecting and displaying interesting items to the public begin? How have museums evolved over time? Offer your young historians a fascinating look into a cultural pastime we so often take for granted in the...

Students extract geographical and historical information from the lyrics of a popular song, make associations between people, places, and events, and plot their information on a map.

We must remember the past in order to avoid its mistakes. Young historians analyze the importance of historical remembrance using primary and secondary documents, as well as video clips. They then study the creation of a World War II...