Smithsonian Institution
POWs
Why did Vietnam POWs and their families receive more media attention than POWs in previous wars? To answer this question, class members view artifacts, read articles, and engage in class discussion. Individuals then assume the voice of...
Curated OER
Vital Voters
Pupils create voter education campaigns to raise awareness of and interest in the government for future voters.
Curated OER
Destruction in Bamiyan
Students examine the destruction of the colossal statues of Buddha, carved into sandstone cliffs of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, that were recently demolished by the Taleban. They look for photos of local artifacts that represent the culture...
Curated OER
Protect the Skin You're in
Students explore the importance of sun safety in relationship to skin cancer prevention. They test the effectiveness of various sunscreens and administer and analyze a simple survey to their peers. In addition, they implement a public...
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There's No Place Like Home
Students explore how the tourism industry was affected by the events of September 11, 2001, examine the impact that tourism has on their state's economy and design aggressive promotional campaigns for local tourism to be presented to the...
Curated OER
A New Candidate for Animal Farm
Students create an advertising campaign in which a candidate from Animal Farm will run for an upcoming election. In this follow-up activity to George Orwell's Animal Farm lesson, students explore propaganda, rhetoric, and satire as they...
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Shedding Light On An Invisible Problem
Young scholars explore the lives of homeless people, focusing particularly on Students. They develop ideas to increase awareness about this issue and create campaigns that educate their peers about the large number of homeless young...
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Made You Look
High schoolers spend some time in the world of marketing and advertising by analyzing and creating slogans and campaigns geared toward adolescents. Students work with a partner to create their design and share with the class
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Happy Endings: The Final Battle
Fifth graders explore all the myths of the battle of Yorktown. A variety of primary documents are viewed and analyzed for discussion. They become aware that what one sees and hears is not always as it seems in reality. Each group...
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Cartoons for the Classroom: Unconventional Approach
In this current events worksheet, students analyze political cartoons that feature campaign information. Students collect political cartoons from their own newspapers and respond to discussion questions.
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Choices and Commitments: The Soldiers at Gettysburg
Learners investigate the Gettysburg Campaign and the major actions for each day of the battle. They read primary source documents, write a diary entry, analyze the Gettysburg Address, and write a persuasive speech regarding an issue in...
Curated OER
TE Lesson: Pollution Solutions
Learners study how industrial technology helps clean up and prevent air pollution. They role play as engineers to examine methods of engineering pollutant recovery methods such as scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, cyclones, and...
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THE TRAVELS OF BABAR: An Adventure in Scale:Saving the Elephants and Other Endangered Animals
Students comprehend the concept and causes of extinction and endangerment. They identify extinct and endangered animals. Students coordinate a plan to help endangered animals through a poster and letter writing campaign.
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"Jazz is About Freedom": Billie Holiday's Anti-lynching Song Strange Fruit
Working in small teams, learners analyze a variety of primary source materials related to lynching (news articles, letters written to or written by prominent Americans, pamphlets, broadsides, etc.) in order to assess the effectiveness of...
Curated OER
Ads R Us: Understanding Target Marketing
Students build awareness of the way in which advertisers shape ads for specific audiences. They analyze the target audience intended for an advertisement and create their own targeted ads to demonstrate their understanding. They discuss...
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Political Cartoons Illustrating Progressivism and the Election of 1912
High schoolers study a current political cartoon to introduce the ideas of symbolism, humor, exaggeration, and caricature in editorial cartoons. They study cartoons from the past to gain an understanding of the culture of 1912.
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A New Generation of Fighters
Students discuss the reasons why people are less likely to take a stand on issues today than they were in the past. In groups, they research the efforts of Kings, Parks and others to end discrimination and racism. They read excerpts of...
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Newsworthy Journey
Students conduct Internet research about ancient civilizations to produce a newspaper that reflecting the cultural, political, economic and religious views of the ancient civilizations of Egypt or Mexico.
Curated OER
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Learners participate in a recycling campaign. In this recycling instructional activity, students create an Earth Day display for a local store. Learners design a mural as a reminder to people of ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Curated OER
Vocab-u-lous! Build a Fabulous Vocab: Words Beginning with TR
In this vocabulary worksheet, students select the best word to complete the sentence. They are challenged by the difficult words that contain a tr-blend.
Media Smarts
Newspaper Ads
Just how free is the press? After examining the advertising and propaganda techniques used by advertisers, class members consider the influence advertisers may exert over newspaper content.
Lemos and Crane
Homophobic Bullying
Discuss homophobia and bullying with a collaborative and supportive lesson. Class members engage in a series of activities focused on the ways bullies use physical, verbal, mental and emotional, sexual, and cyber tactics to spread...
Smithsonian Institution
Young People Shake Up Elections (History Proves It) Educator Guide
Vote, it's your civic duty! The resource provides several videos about voting in the United States. Scholars watch a series of topics ranging from youth participation to civic action. The educator's guide provides teachers with...