Historical Thinking Matters
Scopes Trial: 3 Day Lesson
Was the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists? As part of a structured academic controversy (SAC) activity, pupils consider multiple perspectives of the Butler Act and engage in close...
Media Smarts
Violence and Video Games
Widespread video gaming makes this content relevant and high interest. Developing youth awareness about the impact of violence in games is important to promote literacy, critical thinking, health, and consumer awareness. After reading...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 2
You scream, I scream! Young learners read this passage about ice cream flavors, then answer 13 questions about details from the reading. The questions address details from the text, vocabulary, and parts of speech. Use this activity to...
Curated OER
Persuasive Arguments
Examine persuasive writing using this informational excerpt about natural habitat conservation. Readers examine the headings of three paragraphs to determine their effect, then copy the first sentences of each. They use these topic...
Curated OER
Textual Analysis Lesson: Segregation: Past or Present?
Are your scholars reading Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee? If so, use this textual analysis packet and lesson guide to drive deeper thinking about the characters, create personal connections, and apply historical contexts to the text....
National Endowment for the Humanities
Lesson 2: The United States, France, and the Problem of Neutrality, 1796–1801
While the French Revolution could be considered inspired by the American Revolution, it created thorny problems for the new United States. Should the United States get involved and be drawn into a European drama? Was the US strong...
Pulitzer Center
China's Rising Labor Movement
Young historians will explore the complex causes and effects of industrialization in China by perusing the numerous articles included in this webpage. Throughout the resource, there are many writing and discussion prompts to help direct...
Curated OER
How Would You Feel?
Sixth graders put themselves in the shoes of aborigines who were displaced from their homes in the 1800s by Europeans who came in and took their land from them. They discuss the social injustices suffered by these people, and write a...
Virginia Department of Education
The Writing Process for Persuasive Writing
Get your junior high writers stimulated with the strategies and ideas available in this activity. Learners discuss and debate controversial subjects, and outline their reasons with an online graphic organizer (link included) that creates...
Curated OER
Bill of Rights
US history classes explore constitutional rights as they relate to court cases involving teens. Your class must already be familiar with the Bill of Rights before beginning this series of exercises. In preparation for a debate-style...
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science
Bad Blood
When it comes to science and medicine, ethics should always be a primary consideration; unfortunately, that has not always been the case. There are countless examples throughout history of questionable medical practices, marginalized...
EngageNY
Group Discussion: Accessing Books Around the World
Continue work with an informational text by following the procedures detailed here. The plan, part of a series, focuses on My Librarian is a Camel. Class members complete text-dependent questions and then prepare for and participate in a...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.2
One way to get your class to evaluate and synthesize multiple multimedia sources is through a research project. The idea here is that class members will watch videos and listen to scientific debates in order to create a casebook about...
What So Proudly We Hail
The Meaning of America: Equality
What if society sought equality by handicapping the gifted and dispelling any traces of diversity? Kurt Vonnegut Jr. offers one possible answer to this question through his incredibly engaging and thought-provoking satirical...
Curated OER
Jon and Charlie's Run
Let's use math to solve an argument. Jon and Charlie are debating about who can run farther, but who is right? That's what your class will figure out as they apply their understanding of fractions to this real-life situation. A simple,...
iCivics
Emphasize Minimize
Encourage your class members to consider what points they are really emphasizing when they are making an argument, whether in writing or in speech. Watch out though, as this lesson may just leave your learners eager to debate you!
Carolina K-12
Loyalists and Patriots
Your young historians will square off as Loyalists dedicated to the English crown or revolutionaries fighting for a new nation in a role-play of a colonial town hall debate before the American Revolution.
City University of New York
Women's Suffrage and World War I
Democracy cannot exist where not everyone has equal rights. Discuss the state of democracy and women's suffrage during World War I with class discussions, debates, and primary source analysis, in order for class members to connect with...
Curated OER
Constitutional Convention Simulation
Why did the Founders make it so challenging to amend the US Constitution? To gain an understanding of why the process is so difficult, class members engage in a Constitutional Convention simulation. Groups draft, propose, and debate...
Science Geek
The Dual Nature of the Electron
Why don't atoms collapse? Scientists debated this concept for years before they understood the dual nature of the electron. Presentation discusses the electron as both a particle and an energy wave. It also relates these concepts to the...
Virginia Department of Education
Biotechnological Issues and Bioethics
Culminate a bioethics unit with the implementation of a lesson that incorporates the Socratic method to encourage class feedback and participation. Pupils participate in a discussion on bioethics and morality, complete a writing seminar,...
City University of New York
The 15th and 19th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
Who gets to vote? Learn more about struggles for suffrage throughout United States history with a lesson based on primary source documents. Middle schoolers debate the importance of women's suffrage and African American suffrage before...
National Constitution Center
Town Hall Wall: College Exam
The college that directly affects young citizens' lives is not the university they're applying to. Learn about the Electoral College in a town hall activity in which class members debate the merits of the current system versus electing a...
Goethe-Institut
Life in a Refugee Camp
To raise awareness of the complexity of the immigration debate, class groups examine facts about one aspect of life in a refugee camp and then, in a jigsaw activity, share what they have learned with their new group. Groups then prepare...
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