Curated OER
Out in the Middle of Nowhere: Inevitable Lifestyle Changes
Eleventh graders examine the interaction between Utah's geography and its inhabitants. They explain how looking at cause/effect relationships is an example of historical thinking.
Curated OER
History Matters: The u.s. Survey Course on the Web
Designed for high school and college teachers and students, History Matters serves as a gateway to web resources and offers other useful materials for teaching U.S. history.
![Wisconsin Historical Society: A Handbook for Using Historical Documents [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Wisconsin Historical Society: A Handbook for Using Historical Documents [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society: A Handbook for Using Historical Documents [Pdf]
Teachers will find this a superb guide book for teaching learners how to critically examine documents from the past. The guide contains lessons and resources for Wisconsin history but the teaching methodology can be adapted for anywhere.
Other
The Road to Revolution
This is a site for a 14-day United States History unit on the events leading up to the American Revolution. The point of this unit is to help students form an understanding of events by using multiple primary accounts (teaching...
Other
George W. Bush Library: What Do Historical Objects Tell Me? [Pdf]
A comprehensive instructional activity training students to analyze historical objects to determine features, reliability, authenticity, and provenance through observation skills encouraged through a variety of activities.
Other
Houston Independent School District: Social Studies Strategies [Pdf]
Hone in on methods for historical thinking and the process of historical inquiry when studying social studies.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Balancing Sources
This is from an American history course designed for teachers to enrich their knowledge and their teaching practice. This interactive is a set of nine exercises where teachers evaluate primary resources related to a specific event in...
Stanford University
Stanford History Education Group: Factory Life
[Free Registration/Login Required] A lesson to help students work in discussion groups to evaluate data and resources when the information is contrasting over the same event. Discussion groups Particular to this lesson explore primary...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Pre Columbian America
Although the title of this unit is Pre-Columbian America, the primary focus is on historical thinking. The second part of the unit explores the variety and complexity of cultures in Pre-Columbian America. Included are State Standards,...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: History Assessments
[Free Registration/Login Required] A collection of innovative assessments, interactive rubrics, and annotated samples of student work with an emphasis on primary source documents for the use in a wide range of history concepts.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Historical Thinking Interactives
Six interactive activities are presented that walk students through how to use their critical thinking skills in the analysis of historical artifacts and documents. The sixth one explains how to balance the various perspectives that...
Virginia Tech
Digital History Reader: Introduction
An online learning module for the U.S. and European history. Presents central questions of key events in history. Students explore data, evaluate conflicting accounts or interpretations, and develop conclusions based on primary evidence....
University of Maryland
Howard County Public School System: British Surrender at Yorktown [Pdf]
Based on sourcing, learners will determine which of the two pieces of historical evidence depicting the same event, the surrender of General Charles Cornwallis and the British forces at Yorktown, Virginia on October 19, 1781, is the most...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
Teaching History: Doing History Is Like Solving a Mystery!
Use this interactive poster to explore how students understand history and find resources about teaching historical thinking to students.
Digital History
Digital History: An Intro to the Study of History: The Four Questions [Pdf]
How does one study history? Find four basic questions that historians use to examine events in an effort to explain them and put them in historical context. By examining the Battle of Lexington and Concord, students can practice using...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Letters: Use Your Document Detective Skills
Read three letters, one at a time, about events of historical significance. Identify the region and era particular to each letter, and answer additional questions about the information it contains.
The History Cat
The History Cat: Roanoke: The Mystery of the Lost Colony [Pdf]
Read about the lost colony of Roanoke, examine the evidence, and devise theories as to what may have happened to the colonists in 1590.
Cyberbee
History Investigation: Old Hand Written Letter
Examine this old hand-written letter to discover information about the author, his plans, and the time he lived in. A transcript of the letter is provided, as well as bonus activities and links to sources to complete the activities.
Cynthia J. O'Hora
Mrs. O's House: Mystery Object Challenge
Practice historical investigation skills with this mystery object activity. Look at the image and try to determine its story.