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DocsTeach

Environmental Case Study: Hetch Hetchy Valley

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
What is more important: building a new school or preserving a nature reserve? Keeping a natural area clean or providing clean drinking water to a city of millions? Young scholars weigh these questions—almost literally—using an...
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DocsTeach

Effects of Food Regulation in the Progressive Era

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Moldy canned goods, exploding ketchup, and filthy conditions: These were some of the issues the reformers of the Progressive Era targeted with legislation such as the Pure Food and Drug Act. Using images of food factories and documents...
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DocsTeach

Comparing WWI Food Conservation Posters

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Food will win the war! At least, that is what some World War I-era posters say. Using two propaganda posters—one in English and one in Yiddish—young scholars consider why the Wilson administration had the posters created. Discussion...
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DocsTeach

Comparing Urban and Rural Life in the Early 1900s

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Experience a bit of what life was like at the turn of last century with images of rural and urban life. Learners consider pictures from each environment and then compare and contrast them. Activities include discussing the differences,...
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DocsTeach

Chinese Exclusion Broadside Analysis

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Racism against Asian American goes deep in American history. Using a broadside in favor of the Chinese Exclusion Act, class members examine clues—with key portions of the document blacked out—to better understand the roots of anti-Asian...
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DocsTeach

Before and After Carlisle School

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
White reformers thought they were "killing the Indian" to "save the man." Native children were taken from their parents and placed at boarding schools, such as the Carlisle School. Using a comparative photo analysis of children before...
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DocsTeach

Baseball on the World War I Homefront

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Are sports essential to American life? Young historians ponder the question as they examine letters between the owner of the Boston Red Sox and Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War I. The owner wanted two star players...
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Assimilation of American Indians

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Imagine being forced to give up your culture and then being graded on how well you complied with orders to do so. Documents show young historians the price indigenous peoples paid as a result of the Dawes Act, which was essentially a...
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DocsTeach

Artists Document World War I

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Drawings may be worth even more than a thousand words. Curious scholars query an artist's rendering of troops leaving a ship after they have arrived in Europe to fight in World War I. By zooming in and looking at the entire piece, class...
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DocsTeach

Analyzing Photographs of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
While a catalyst for the labor movement, 146 people lost their lives in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in 1913. A series of photographs of the aftermath of the tragedy help young historians consider the impact of the fire. The...
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DocsTeach

Analyzing a Child Labor Photograph

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Sometimes images tell shocking stories. Individuals examine a Lewis Hines picture of children packing beans and consider the impact working in a factory had on their young lives. A series of prompts emailed to the teacher helps them...
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DocsTeach

Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Take the small step for man and giant leap for mankind with the Apollo astronauts using primary sources. Young historians explore the documents related to the American space program up through the lunar landing, including presidential...
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DocsTeach

Analyzing Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The end of a war means the causes were resolved, right? Not for World War I. By examining Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points, budding historians consider imperialism, nationalism, militarism, and alliances, as well as Wilson's efforts to...
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DocsTeach

Analyzing a Photograph of a Young American Indian

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
A true glimpse of the past, Angelic La Moose smiles back from more than 100 years ago. Young learners examine the picture of a young girl on a Montana Native American reservation from 1913 to comb it for historical details. A form, which...
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Interactive
DocsTeach

Nixon Visits China: The Week that Changed the World

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Sometimes one trip shakes up the entire world. When President Richard Nixon traveled to China, he defied international and political boundaries. Nixon was the first American president to visit mainland China, which was a communist nation...
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Unit Plan
Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers

Justice for All - Educating Youth for Social Responsibility: Grades 6-8

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Teach middle schoolers how to develop healthy relationships with activities and lessons designed to create a kind and inclusive classroom. Pupils create guidelines to develop a safe and civil learning environment. They learn how to...
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Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Breaking Barriers: Women’s Basketball Documents

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Is basketball ladylike? A pressing debate in the nineteenth century explored the issue in the sports world. Using images, news reports, and the rules of the game, young scholars decide whether the sport helped advance the cause of women...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Choice Board - Conversations with Suffragists

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Celebrate 100 years of women's suffrage by planning a re-enactment of famous women discussing their fight. After learners view a series of interviews with famous women played by actors, including Susan B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth, and...
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Unit Plan
Museum of the American Revolution

Through Their Eyes: Major Causes and Events of the American Revolution

For Teachers 4th - 12th Standards
Looking for an efficient way to explore the causes and results of the American Revolution? The American Revolution Museum offers a seven-lesson series to hit the highlights of this turning point, using primary sources and activities such...
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Lesson Plan
National Woman's History Museum

Red Power Prevails : The Activism, Spirit, and Resistance of Native American Women

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Native American women powered the American Indian Movement and other social changes, but they are often forgotten by history books. Examining a series of resources, including a documentary film, photographs, secondary sources, and social...
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Wonder Girls - Advocating for Global Issues

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Move over Wonder Woman ... here come the Wonder Girls! Using video clips of photographer Paola Gianturco talking about her work, pupils consider the life experiences of girls around the world, including places such as Tonga and India....
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Lesson Plan
C-SPAN

Women's Contributions in the Civil War

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Women's history is often hidden, but pupils discover the role women played in the Civil War using a series of video clips. After reviewing the interview with a scholar of women's history, class members fill out a chart and then research...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Travel back in time to examine how tragic events can spur positive change. Scholars explore the impact of the Selma Voting Rights March, including the tragic loss of life and the later signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Academics...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Discover the Mary Ann Shadd Cary House

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an extraordinary woman, no matter the time period. Academics research the life and achievements of Mrs. Cary, who was born a free African American in 1823. The lesson uses primary sources, worksheets, written...