Curated OER
Let's Plan a Trip!
Take a virtual trip to see other countries and cultures! After learning about different cultures and populations, English learners think about a place they'd like to visit. Small groups or individuals plan a trip to a country of their...
Curated OER
Buffalo Hide Paintings
To the Native American people living on the plains, the buffalo represented culture, art, sustenance, and survival. Explore the history of the buffalo with a social studies instructional activity, in which learners create a buffalo hide...
University of the Desert
What Do You Want Your Country to be Like?
How would you like your country to be by 2020? What issues do you feel are most important, and how do those compare with your peers? Learners tackle questions regarding the evolving national and global culture of the twenty-first century...
Huntington Library
Further Exploration - Exploring the California Missions
How did Native Californians and Franciscans influence one another in early California? Learners analyze a few cultural pieces to examine the impact that integration had on Franciscan and Native Californian culture.
NIOS Download
The Harappan Civilization
The Harappan Civilization, also known as the Indus Valley civilization (2600 BC-1900 BC), is the focus of a resource packet that details the rise and fall of a culture that existed in India during the Chalcolithic period of history.
University of the Desert
Fact and Opinion within the Media
How can the media foster cultural misunderstandings? These activities encourage learners to distinguish between fact and opinion in the media
Advocates for Human Rights
The Right of Indigneous Peoples in the United States
The sovereignty of U.S. Native American nations is the focus of a resource that asks class members to compare the Right to Self-Determination in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with a fact sheet that details the...
Curated OER
Japan: Traditions and Culture
A series of four activities explores Japanese culture and traditions. Learners participate in a re-enacted tea ceremony; examine sketches of Asian figures by Canadian artist Robert Harris, discuss symbols, investigate Japanese mon, and...
PBS
What's In a Name?
What is in a name? Eager historians trace the geographical history of places in the United States with Spanish names. Using a worksheet activity, clues, and web research developed in conjunction with the PBS "Latinos in America" series,...
National Constitution Center
Born in the U.S.A: Music as Political Protest
Though often used in shows of patriotism, Bruce Springsteen's 1985 song "Born in the U.S.A." is critical of America's role in the Vietnam war and its treatment of American veterans. High schoolers analyze the song's lyrics in an activity...
Curated OER
Asian and Other Cultures
Middle schoolers view and discuss a video showing different festivals celebrated in Asian cultures. They participate in a class survey of the different festivals celebrated in their own families and brainstorm the purposes for...
Curriculum Corner
Native American Literature
Celebrate and honor Native American culture with this set of graphic organizers that showcases literature like The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses and A Boy Called Slow as well as three other Native American literature books. Learners compare...
Curated OER
Japanese Tea and Teacups
Upper graders use the potter's wheel to make Japanese style tea cups, which they will use in a Japanese style tea ceremony. They hone their sculpting techniques while exploring Japanese cultural and the history of tea. There are two...
Annenberg Foundation
Becoming Visible
The television and interstate highways both came of age in 1950s America. Scholars use film, text, and discussion to explore how these and other cultural icons shaped the literature of the time. Pupils also create a family history...
Curated OER
The Spread of Hellenistic Culture
Uncover the many valuable contributions of Hellenistic culture in Alexandria. Defining Hellenistic culture as a blend of Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures, the slides detail the many ways in which the city of Alexandria has impacted...
Curated OER
America's Future Culture
Seventh graders research the past and present policies in the United States regarding immigration. As a class, they read "Immigration Timeline" to examine the various groups who came to America for a better life. To end the lesson,...
Curated OER
Painted Lodges
Students explore lodge construction as a representation of culture. In this cultural diversity and Native American history lesson, students listen to a narrative explaining the origin of Native American painted lodges. Students design...
Smithsonian Institution
Dia de los Muertos: Honoring our Ancestors Through Community Celebration
Oral storytelling has been an important part of every culture. The time-honored practice uses stories as a conduit for a culture's values and customs from one generation to the next. Keep the tradition going with a family interview...
Curated OER
One Step At a Time
Young scholars examine cultures in Africa. They discover culture includes behaviors, customs and actions. They examine how different people interpret things differently and practice seeing a situation from two points of view.
Missouri Department of Elementary
The Many Roles I Play in My Community
Small groups brainstorm their roles in the community. Then, individually, complete a community roles web worksheet. Peers share their completed product and extend the conversation to include the feelings and character traits that go...
NET Foundation for Television
1850-1874 Native Americans and Settlers
Did Western settlers receiving free land from the Homestead Act realize it wasn't really free at all? Scholars investigate the impact Western expansion had on Native American culture in the mid-1800s. They use documents, timelines, and...
Teaching Tolerance
Jim Crow as a Form of Racialized Social Control
Just because slavery was illegal doesn't mean it went away ... Jim Crow Laws took its place. An eye-opening lesson focuses on how Jim Crow Laws were used as a form of racial social control against African Americans in the United States....
Los Angeles Unified School District
World History Medieval and Early Modern Times
A slew of graphic organizers, worksheets, and student activities are packaged here for your world history pupils. From comparing and contrasting the Qur'an and Sunnah, studying cultural diffusion across eastern nations, or examining the...
Stanford University
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
How do policies aimed to help actually hurt? Native American boarding schools—an attempt at assimilating children of indigenous tribes into white culture—had a shattering effect on those who attended. With primary sources, including...