Curated OER
Sociological Research Skills
In this Sociological Research Skills worksheet, students must write about the strengths, weaknesses, reliability, and limitations of various methods of research.
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 3: Unit 2, Lesson 3
Do you know if that source is reliable? Learners examine closely to determine which sources provide reliable information for their research. Scholars use organizers to examine each source based on credibility, accessibility, and...
Nemours KidsHealth
Media Literacy and Health: Grades 6-8
Internet suffers could drown in the volume of information available on line. Here's an activity that can be a lifeline and buoy confidence in middle schoolers' ability to find reliable information and credible sources. After reading...
Curated OER
Energy Play: Harry Spotter and the Chamber of Windy Myths
Students explore the concept of renewable energy. In this alternative energy lesson, students participate in a play that conveys information regarding wind energy. The script may be performed as a play with props or as a reader's theatre.
Curated OER
Worksheet for Analysis of a Written Document
In this primary source analysis worksheet, students respond to 16 short answer questions that require them to analyze the provided historical document.
Curated OER
Water: Access and Use
Students get a personal sense for another culture's way of doing things. Develop a list of sources for water. Practice using the scientific method. Examine means for conserving, or for generating, reliable sources of water.
iCivics
NewsFeed Defenders Extension Pack
Accuracy, transparency, trustworthiness, and impartiality are four unspoken rules of journalism. Scholars delve deep into the subject by discussing the pros and cons of relying on social media for news. They also play an online game to...
Curated OER
To Go Solar or Not to Go Solar!
Middle schoolers imagine that they are on a panel to consider if a solar energy system would be advantageous to a new school as it is being built. They read the included handout and then each play a role as a participant in a community...
Curated OER
Primary/Secondary Source Activity
In this primary/secondary source activity, students answer a set of 5 questions about a picture drawn in approximately 1934 of an event that took place in 1867.
Stanford University
Japan and America
When Commodore Matthew Perry sailed to Japan and demonstrated American naval strength, he forced the empire to engage in trade with the United States. How did this new, strong-armed relationship influence both parties? Pupils consider...
Stanford University
Louis XIV
His reign was known for the extravagance of Versailles, as well as fiscal failure. Referred to as the Sun King, and the art of Louis XIV's court reflects his absolute power in France. By examining the image of bronze engraving from a...
Historical Thinking Matters
Rosa Parks: 1 Day Lesson
You've heard of the historical moment when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, but did you know that some historical accounts disagree on where she sat? Investigate this query with your young historians, and practice...
Curated OER
College Research Skills: Evaluating Reliable Online Sources
Learners analyze Public Art in preparation for college discussion, research, and writing, and create their own artistic creations. In this art and college prep lesson, students develop an original research question to explore an art...
US Department of Energy
Geothermal Energy
With Earth Day quickly approaching, as well as many science fairs, why not challenge your class to investigate geothermal energy or other renewable energy resources? There are five driving questions explored in depth here, as well as...
Curated OER
Assessing Research Materials
Teaching learners how to evaluate a research source is an important part of the research process. The fresh idea here is that groups first develop a list of reasons why resources should be evaluated, transform these reasons into...
Curated OER
Consider the Source
Young scholars explain how to critically compare news reporting from around the world, focusing on coverage of the Taliban regime. They compare and contrast television and print media reporting on the issue.
Stanford University
Chinese Immigration and Exclusion
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first race-based restriction on immigration in American history. Why was the act passed after Chinese immigrants helped build the Transcontinental Railroad? A series of documents, including speeches and...
California Department of Education
Where Am I Going?
How do I get where I'm going from here? The fifth of six college and career readiness lessons invites seventh graders to dig deep into the career of their choice. Once they complete their research, individuals relate their findings to...
National Park Service
Lesson 6: Researching Contemporary Slavery
While many believe slavery ended after the American Civil War, it continues today in various forms. Using a WebQuest research project, class members investigate how the institution of slavery lives on in the modern world. Activities also...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and the Unreliable Narrator
Stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Ambrose Bierce provide readers with an opportunity to investigate unreliable narrators. The lesson plan begins with an activity about different types of point of view and continues as scholars apply their...
Curated OER
Fighting Fake News
Fake news. Alternative facts. Internet trolls. In an age of Newspeak, it's increasingly important to equip 21st century learners with the skills needed to determine the legitimacy of claims put forth on social media, in print, and in...
Curated OER
Edward R. Murrow: This Reporter
What would Edward R. Murrow think of today’s news broadcasts? Learners examine the work of the first public television newscaster and his commitment to researched, accurate reporting. The eight-day study concludes with investigators...
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...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
How Two Alabamians Remembered Slavery Years Later
Designed to help readers recognize the point of view of the author of a primary source documents and analyze how that point of view influences the reliability of a text, young historians examine two personal letters, one written by...