Facebook
Raising Awareness Through Media
Spread the word! Passionate pupils engage in creating multimedia awareness messages during a digital citizenship lesson plan. Using an example of a community social issue message for ideas, individuals then take the reins and begin to...
Township of Wilmot
Kindergarten: Exploring the Concept of “Leadership”
Kindergartners aren't too little to be leaders! Teach them about the qualities and responsibilities of all types of leaders, including political figures, community leaders, and family members, with an engaging lesson for young citizens.
Good Project by Harvard Project Zero
The Good Project Lesson Plans
Excellence, ethics, and engagement are the three E's featured in a unit that promotes good work among elementary scholars. Through discussion, reflection, read-alouds, activity worksheets, and written responses, participants gain...
iCivics
Win the White House
What does it take to win the White House? A video game allows young political operatives to try their hand at winning 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by deciding on key issues, where and how to spend campaign dollars, and the role of polling...
iCivics
Responsibility Launcher
So how would pupils solve a town's problems? Using a video game, scholars tell residents of a town how to solve their problems by taking steps such as going back to school, voting, or serving in the military. As they make good choices,...
Listenwise
Teacher's Guide to Podcasting in the Classroom
Ever feel disengaged? Let's talk about it! Learning how to create podcast lessons in the classroom fully engages scholars and educators. Participants learn how to conduct simple podcast lessons, then evolve into creating more complex,...
American Battlefield Trust
Joshua Chamberlain Lesson Plan
While Joshua Chamberlain's name is not as iconic as Abraham Lincoln or Robert E. Lee, he still played a pivotal role in the military engagements of the Civil War. Using two secondary sources—including one that draws heavily from his...
Curated OER
Election of 1864
An interesting lesson plan uses a hands-on-activity and group discussion to explore the 1864 presidential election and Lincoln's plans for ending the Civil War. Designed for high school, the resource also requires historians to...
Curated OER
Remembering the Fallen
A thought-provoking lesson showcases Civil War battlefield monuments to demonstrate how fallen soldiers are remembered. High school scholars compare Union and Confederate monuments to learn how each group commemorated the battles. They...
EngageNY
Final Performance Task: Character Confessional Narrative
You wrote it, now what? Learners take their writing to the next level when they perform it for classmates. They then engage in a self-reflection and assessment of their work to determine how well they hit targets, such as identifying...
US Department of Commerce
Featured Activity: City Planning With Census Data
What's more important ... an ice cream store or a police station? How about a school or a hospital? Using a simulation game, pupils allot resources as the federal government would based on the census. Discussion questions round out the...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Winner-Take-All: The Two-Party System
Two's company, three's a crowd. High school historians learn about the Electoral College, a two-party, winner-take-all voting system in the United States. The instructional activity explains the pros and cons of the two-party system,...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Putin's Illiberal Democracy
Is Russia really a democracy? High school scholars explore Russian democracy under the leadership of President Putin. The resource provides opportunity for group discussion, writing, and research to understand Russia's political history,...
Nemours KidsHealth
Germs: Grades 9-12
Beware the bugs! Two activities engage high schoolers in the study of germs, what they are, what they do to the body, and what can be done to prevent them from spreading. After reading a series of related articles, groups create a...
Teaching Tolerance
Digital Activism Remixed: Hashtags for Voice, Visibility and Visions of Social Justice
It's time to discover hashtag activism! Using an engaging resource, learners explore viral hashtag campaigns relating to diversity, identity, and justice. Next, they either design their own hashtag campaigns or respond to existing ones.
Teaching Tolerance
Understanding Other Religious Beliefs
Learn what it means to respect others in an engaging instructional activity on religious beliefs. An inclusive resource focuses on understanding other religious beliefs, the right to freedom of religion, and the U.S. history of religious...
PBS
Predicting/Making a Hypothesis
As an introduction to the hypothesis and testing method of investigation, young history detectives engage in a special investigation of a family artifact. After watching a short video that demonstrates the method, they develop a...
DocsTeach
Evaluating Perspectives on Westward Expansion
Although popular culture tells the story of the American West simplistically, its reality is far more complex. Native American tribes—while already on the land—didn't have the same interests, and conflicts between white settlers and...
DiscoverE
At Home: Safe Landing Activity
A parachute is probably a good idea. An engaging lesson has pupils brainstorm ways to slow the descent of a falling object to minimize the impact when it lands. They decide on a design, build a prototype, test it out, and then make...
Nemours KidsHealth
Germs: Grades 6-8
As part of their study of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa, middle schoolers create engaging public service announcements for preschool and kindergarten classes, teaching them how and when to wash their hands. To begin, class...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "My Skeleton" by Jane Hirshfield
Jane Hirshfield's poem "My Skeleton" asks readers to pause and think about the amazing, often taken-for-granted structure that protects and gives form to human bodies. After observing the human skeleton's image, class members read the...
Center for History Education
Was the Stamp Act Fair?
Pledge your loyalty to the king and the Stamp Act or sign an oath against the tax. After simulating an in-class tax for school supplies, young historians consider the reasons for the Stamp Act and similar colonial policies. The...
Arcademics
Tugboat Addition
Test young mathematicians' addition skills with an engaging learning game. Two tugboat teams race to answer as many addition problems as possible.
PBS
Curious George: Five Senses
Curious scholars make like Curious George and use their five senses to identify mystery objects. After a brief discussion, learners watch an engaging Curious George video in preparation for an activity. Scholars visit three tables that...