What to teach: conceptual frameworks

Students explore global issues through visual art analysis. In this African art lesson, students examine works by El Anatsui and discussing their human rights themes. Students then design lesson plans based on their findings.

Young journalists use four strategies from an "Am I Being Fair?" tip sheet to check for and counter personal biases about a topic. Scholars apply the strategies to an article about the best pizza as guided practice. Participants then...

How to meet the needs of people around the globe—a question many ask. The fifth in a six-part series about human population and its effects on the globe, the eye-opening lesson includes discussion, a homework activity, and an in-class...

"Selling is important in all professions because it involves synthesizing information and persuading people." Rather than using this as a lesson on how to sell a product, this resource might best be used as an inquiry into what goes into...

Students become familiar with the Federalist papers and the work of the federal government.  In this federalism lesson plan, students find similarities and differences between state and federal government.

Deconstruction, aporia, and logocentrism. Three terms used by Jacques Derrida to describe his key ideas, marked a pivotal change in philosophic thinking. Introduce viewers to Derrida with a short video that deconstructs his rejection of...

Can capitalism have virtue? Adam Smith thinks so! The 12th video in a series of 13 discusses Smith's political and economic views. Pupils discover these concepts and more through primary source photographs and examples that relate to...

Was he a ruthless leader and failed military commander? Or a political martyr and king? Historians continue to debate the legacy of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who was the last of the Romanov line to rule Russia. An interesting video...

"And it's one, two, three...what are we fighting for?" Use music to assess the climate of protest during the Vietnam War, listening to and analyzing Country Joe MacDonald's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag" (lyrics included)....

Students identify methods of utilizing game show strategies to enhance retention of social studies content knowledge. They develop rubrics for evaluating the quality of elementary-level social studies assessments. They discuss the...