Curated OER
The Portrait
Students discuss the historical painting of portraits. In this art history lesson, students examine the history of portraiture during the nineteenth century. This lesson is intended to be used with a visit to the Musee d'Orsay in France.
Curated OER
Disasters
Third graders examine different types of disasters occurring in our world. They research an assigned disaster on the Internet then create a newspaper to display their information including clipart and digital pictures.
Curated OER
Vincent Van Gogh
Students examine the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh. They complete a class KWL chart, and watch a PowerPoint presentation about the life of Vincent Van Gogh. Next, they use a digital photo of themselves to create a self-portrait...
Curated OER
Images of Gary: An Ideal Place to Live?
Pupils examine photographs depicting historical scenes from the US Steel Photograph Collection. They develop criteria to analyze or judge an image's representation. They assess photographs according to the criteria.
Curated OER
Artists in Power Point
Students create a Power Point presentation on a famous artist. In this research activity students are assigned an artist to present to their classmates. The presentation follows a format.
Curated OER
An Early Canadian Photo Album
Students search the Images Canada database for images depicting life in Canada in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They analyze photos and share their findings. They use these images to create a photo album.
Curated OER
Live Paintings
Students research various works of art, write essays, and create live performance art pieces in this 2-day Art, History, and/or Language Arts lesson for 7th and 8th grade. The use of a digital camera to capture the "live" performance is...
Curated OER
Creating a Nation
Young scholars investigate the move to federation by the Australian colonies was abject of the displays of nationalism that characterized similar movements in other nations. Most notions regarding federation were treated with little...
Curated OER
Young Author Books: I Am a Leaf on My Family Tree
Fourth graders create family tree books. They discuss culture and brainstorm interview questions for family members. They write stories, poems, and captions for family photos. They interview family members and assemble the interviews...
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Vertical Thinking
Students explore the inventions and innovations of skyscraper engineering as a part of architecture analysis. In this architecture analysis instructional activity, students research the inventions, innovations, architects, and engineers...
Curated OER
Racial Violence in America: Lynchings, 1877 to 1920
Students are introduced to the concept of lynching as it took place in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Through class discussion and a review of lynching photographs, students explore the reasons behind...
Curated OER
Life Through Time: The Heart of the Phanerozoic
Students gain a deeper understanding of geological time and the evolution of life on Earth. They use iMovie to tell a complex story of a discrete time period with narration and images.
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Lesson: Nikhil Chopra: Performing Memory
Film imitates life; that's what they say. Using performance theory to tie the lesson together, learners attempt to understand memory and daily rituals as seen in art, film, and life. They read two chapters from the book, watch the...
Curated OER
Teaching the Holocaust Through Poetry
W.H. Auden’s poem “Refugee Blues” launches a study of the problems of refugees. Background information about the poem and general information about Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria are provided, as are discussion questions and...
Facing History and Ourselves
The Power of Images
One picture but a thousand stories. As a part of a case study of how the death of Michael Brown was reported by professional news sources and on social media class members examine the reactions of various groups to a photograph taken by...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Picturing a Story: Photo Essay about a Community, Event or Issue
Picture this. Class members follow in the footsteps of W. Eugene Smith, Dorothea Lange, James Nachtwey, and Lewis Hine by creating their own photo essay about a local event or issue.
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Comparing Kwakiutl, Cheyenne and Navajo tribes
Third graders study the difference between the Kwakiutl, Cheyenne and Navajo tribes. They identify the people, resources, lifestyle and beliefs of the Kwakiutl, Cheyenne, and Navajo Indians. Afterward, they present their projects on each...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Portraits That Capture Character
One of the great things about technology is that it lets youngsters visit museums that may be many miles away. With this resource, middle and high schoolers can visit the portrait galleries at J. Paul Getty Museum, located in Los...
J. Paul Getty Trust
Exhibiting Common Threads
Artists working in different media often explore the same themes—to model how these same themes weave their way through different forms of artistic expression, scholars analyze images by Dorothea Lange, identifying key themes in her...
Curated OER
Newspapers: A Connection to Our Past
Middle schoolers discuss current events and importance of understanding historical context for events today. They research current event and its historical context, and plan, shoot, and edit iMovie video essay using AppleWorks storyboard.
Curated OER
Biographical Poems
Students write a biographical poem about themselves. They observe a teacher-led demonstration, write an autobiographical poem and a biographical poem about a famous person using a template form, and display the poems side-by-side.
Curated OER
Creative Writing - Research and Letters
Here's a fresh approach that combines research, business and personal letter writing, and creative story telling. Student groups research different decades in the life of a famous Japanese astronomer. They then craft a decade fact sheet,...
Civil War
Civil War Medicine: Fact or Fiction
Young historians compare the presentation of medical care during the Civil War in passages from fictional and nonfictional texts. They examine passages from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell and Soldier's...
Curated OER
What Can a Map Tell You?
Learners investigate how maps can provide useful information about health issues. They study a map to draw conclusions about cholera death in London.