Foreign Policy Research Institute
A Geography Lesson
Fewer and fewer people have a strong grasp of world geography, but this activity helps students understand geopolitics by creating their own original historical map. The activity requires selecting a country from the list provided,...
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News Coverage WWII
Students explore how Americans were affected by news coverage of World War II.
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Why Vote?
Students design a ballot slip for student voting. They create a slogan and political brochure.
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Cartogram of the Great Compromise
Students create cartograms of populations during 1790.
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Picture This: Election Results Graphs
Students use art supplies or a free online tool to graph election results. Students follow local election and results. Using "Create a Graph, a free online graphing tool, they make a graph of the results.
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The War: Utah World War II Stories
Students study the contributions of World War II veterans and how the contributions affected the United States in the past and now. They watch videos at a website that show Utah World War II stories. While studying, they attempt to put...
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Comparing Foundations of Democracy
Students examine democratic values. In this democratic ideologies instructional activity, students discuss individual rights and rights of the group. Students also discuss the implications of the priorities made in democratic societies...
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Looking for Heroes
Pupils explain the importance of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March and the long term impact in the US of non violent civic participation.
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Religion in Public Schools
Seventh graders conduct research on important background information regarding the role of religion in American public schools. In this Ethics lesson, 7th graders examine and become familiar with the First Amendment of the Bill of...
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Sitting Bull: Chief of the Lakota Nation
Students view the "Sitting Bull" video, complete vocabulary work, and discuss the video as a class.
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Attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Sixth graders hear a story about the atomic bombing of Japan and write an editorial about the event from the perspective of either a Japanese or an American.
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Historical Witness: Social Messaging
Students examine the persuasive techniques of leaders. In this propaganda lesson, students discover the practices that Louis XIV and Caligula used to persuade others. Students watch "The Merchants of Cool" and discuss propaganda used...
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Rosa Parks
Students identify the heroic actions of Rosa Parks. In this African-American lesson, students read the book, Rosa Parks: My Storyand create a timeline of the events from the biography.
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FDR and the Lend-Lease Act
Young scholars analyze primary source documents and photographs to analyze the implications of the Lend-Lease Program. In this research lesson plan, students read and discuss letters and speeches related to the Lend-Lease Act, evaluate...
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Civil Rights after MLK and RFK
Learners are assigned to groups representing minority populations who produce a research project in a digital format from the list. A few of the choices are: speech, letter to the editor, editorial cartoon, etc.
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The Greek Gods
What were the early Greek myths? Have elementary students examine the Persian Wars and read various Greek myth in order to identify the cause and the results of the Persian Wars. Myths, activities, simulations, and a unit plan are links...
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Ancient Greece Unit
Middle schoolers complete a unit of study on Ancient Greece. For this Ancient Greece lesson, students complete 16 sets of activities to learn about Ancient Greece. Middle schoolers finish with a comprehensive test over the unit.
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Putting a Spin on Current Events
Pupils explore the artistic value of propaganda. In this visual arts lesson, students analyze antique artistic pieces for their political agenda perpetuation. Pupils discuss propaganda techniques of the past to today prior to designing...
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Case Study: Manzanar
Eleventh graders investigate Japanese-American internment. In this World War II lesson plan, 11th graders conduct research from the Manzanar National Historic Sites and then write essays based on their findings.
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Chinese Immigration
Students identify artifacts from Chinese immigrants that are common to other immigrant groups, describe how American society discriminated against the Chinese, describe contribution of Chinese immigrants to American society, discuss two...
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Evaluation Essay
Students write an essay about previous studied lessons that is applied to the Japanese American experience. They have to role play being a Caucasian, or Nisei in California at a given time based on what they have studied. What would...
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Great Depression's Impact on Organized Labor
High schoolers investigate that labor unions recruited more workers to join their ranks during the Depression, and speculate as to why this growth occurred when it did. They research the impact of federal legislation of the New Deal...
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The Decision to Americanize the War in Vietnam
Students research the major events of the Vietnam War and construct a timeline. They do the same with the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson or the 1960's. They act as an advisor to President Johnson to recommend a course of action...
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Tally of the 1824 Electoral College Vote
Twelfth graders study the parts of the Constitution that address presidential election. They complete a variety of activities designed to spark debate about the flaws in the Electoral College system.