Curated OER
Using Primary Sources in the Classroom
Scholars study a historical photograph to make predictions of what happened right after the picture was taken. They research a variety of different topics and use primary sources to answer questions about common food, fashion trends, and...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Making of the Fittest: The Birth and Death of Genes
Adaptations must be made as environments change. This fabulous presentation features Icelandic icefish, a transparent, scaleless specimen that even has colorless blood. Genetics and adaptations concepts are explored as scientists study...
Curated OER
School Day: South Africa
Students explore a student protest in South Africa. They observe a film about life in South Africa. Students consider how the image of South Africa is shaped by the media. Students roleplay interviewing African children.
Curated OER
American Families
Students research psychology by participating in a role-play activity. For this human relationship lesson, students define the term "family" and read assigned text which discusses how family relationships work. Students answer study...
Curated OER
34x25x36: Advertising and Body Image
Point of View’s short film, “34x25x36” launches a study of how images presented by mannequins and advertisements influence body image. Class members read and discuss the fact sheet "Media's Effect on Girls: Body Image and Gender...
Curated OER
How Historians Know: Investigating a Midwife's Life
Students view "A Midwife's Tale" to explain the methods historians use to study the past. They complete worksheets to identify what historians look for.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Propaganda - 9/11 and the War on Terrorism
Propaganda is an important topic that most high school social studies teachers address. Here, students compare and contrast methods of public persuasion during WWII with those used in the contemporary War on Terror. Research, discussion,...
Curated OER
State Issues: The Native People of Hawaii
Students research issues about their state and community. They work in groups to create a multi-media presentation highlighting the issues.
Curated OER
Teaching About Asia; Freeman Seminar
Students integrate the study of photography and Eastern Culture for the purpose of increasing artistic expression. They produce high quality photographs in conjunction with conducting research with meaningful writing produced with the...
PBS
President Theodore Roosevelt: Foreign Policy Statesman or Bully?
Can a negative perception of a president's foreign policy harm his or her historical legacy? A project that winds the clock back to the date of Theodore Roosevelt's death puts students at the editorial desk of a fictional newspaper....
Curated OER
Making Choices about Tobacco Use
Young scholars examine the dangers associated with smoking. In groups, they discuss what it means to be addicted to a drug and how the media influences our decisions. After watching excerpts of films, they identify the use of smoking...
Channel Islands Film
Cache: Lesson Plan 4 - Grades 4-5
After viewing the West of the West's documentary Cache, individuals craft either a newspaper article chronicling the discovery of the cache on San Nicolas Island, a historical narrative of the placement of the cache in the cliff side, or...
Described and Captioned Media Program
Malcolm X: Make It Plain, Part I
Malcolm X was a complicated man that few in white America understood. After sharing what they know or think they know about this civil rights leader, about nationalism and Black Nationalism, class members view a two-part documentary...
Curated OER
Hiroshima
Students conduct research focused around the events concerning the bombing of Hiroshima in Japan. The research is based upon the answering of several key questions. The students are also exposed to different media sources to see the...
Curated OER
Great Escape
Students view a television program that explores the influence and importance of film's contribution to the rise of global culture. They discuss and write about the movies' influence in their own lives and compare and contrast different...
Curated OER
You Choose the News
Students investigate the process used in choosing the news. They serve as guest editors and select newsworthy stories for the evening news program. Students explore how news is selected by editors and gain insight into the making of the...
Curated OER
TB - Lusitania Day (1916)
Students, after brainstorming all the different types of propaganda, explore, analyze and study the nature, origin and purpose of propaganda and how its aims are achieved. They assess how the sinking of the Lusitania was manipulated by...
Curated OER
Stereotypes and Tonto
Students identify stereotypes, especially those applied to American Indians. In this teaching tolerance lesson, students read an essay entitled " I Hated Tonto (Still Do)" and discuss the negative impact that stereotypes may have...
Louisiana Department of Education
Unit: Hamlet
Encourage readers to determine if Hamlet's madness is actually divinest sense. Class members analyze the words of the play before studying related texts, including T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," scenes from...
The New York Times
Big Brother vs. Little Brother: Updating Orwell's 1984
Government surveillance is an enduring conflict that has become increasingly complex with our nation's use of technology. Add to the understanding of Orwell’s 1984 by using the resources here that display the contemporary actions of Big...
Curated OER
Into the Wilderness: Habitat vs. Development
By studying the once-assumed extinction, then rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, learners look at the physical changes that have occured in habitats throughout Arkansas. This outstanding lesson is chock full of terrific...
Shakespeare in American Life
Patriarchy in King Lear and As I Lay Dying
King Lear, “Papa Doc” Duvalier, Colonel Walter E. Kurtz and Anse Bundren? Imagine a unit that examines the tragic hero and patriarchy in King Lear, As I Lay Dying and Apocalypse Now. To liven the brew, learners are asked to include in...
Curated OER
American Dragon: Jake Long
Students, after viewing the film "American Dragon," by Jake Long, explore and analyze the importance of legends and the unique cultures others grow up in. They stress the need for having a good self-esteem and assess how to work together...
Curated OER
Phenomenology Lesson Plan #3: Content Part 2
Students examine magazine advertisements to identify how the product is being sold to the consumer. They work together in groups to respond to ads and explain why they are successful.