National Endowment for the Humanities
Albert Sabin and Bioethics: Testing at the Chillicothe Federal Reformatory
Do the ends justify the means? Getting a drug approved in the US is a long and involved process. But at some point out, it involves testing on humans. The ethics of such testing is the focus of a resource that uses Dr. Albert Sabin's...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
What Were They Thinking? Why Some Some Alabamians Opposed the 19th Amendment
To better understand the debate over the 19th Amendment, class members examine two primary source documents that reveal some of the social, economic, racial, and political realities of the time period.
University of Pennsylvania
Using Political Postcards to Teach a Revolution of Political Thought
Discuss how political postcards affected everyday people's thoughts and beliefs. Pupils continue a unit on the Dreyfus Affair as they engage in class discussion, watch a video, view a PowerPoint presentation, and fill out worksheets to...
Annenberg Foundation
Mapping Initial Encounters
Picture someone's excitement of seeing a horse for the first time. How about a cow? The Columbian Exchange changed life for not only Native Americans, but also for Europeans and the entire world. The second lesson of a 22-part series...
Curated OER
Historical Interview Project
Students interview a subject about important historical events in his or her lifetime and create an iMovie of the experience. Era-related data is imported into the project from a variety of sources and presented to the rest of the class.
Facing History and Ourselves
The Nazis in Power: Propaganda and Conformity
The Nazis used the power of propaganda to encourage confirmative views and the discrimination of Jews. A social studies resource illustrates these issues through discussion, image analysis, and a writing exercise.
Curated OER
Harriet Tubman Warns "Kill the Snake Before It Kills You"
Harriet Tubman developed a rich extended metaphor for slavery and the imperative for Lincoln to abolish it in this dictated letter from 1862. Young historians read the original document and interpret Tubman's allegory with a pair of...
C-SPAN
Evaluating Historical Presidential Campaign Ads
Political ads flood the airwaves each election cycle. An activity including more than a dozen political ads from iconic presidential campaigns helps learners unpack how the sausage gets made during election "silly season." Using the...
Curated OER
A Soldier's View of the American Civil War
Study and research the American Civil War in this explanatory writing lesson. Middle schoolers complete six activities to learn about the American Civil War and soldiers' views of the war. The lesson includes several options to complete...
Curated OER
Primary and Secondary Sources
Students understand what primary and secondary sources are. In this primary and secondary sources instructional activity, students take a list of sources and break down to primary and secondary sources.
Curated OER
National Road to Indiana
Students explore the National Road to Indiana. In this U.S. highway history and primary source research activity, students read an original journal written by Jane Voorhees Lewis in 1806 describing her trip west on the first federally...
Curated OER
Different Viewpoints - Loyalist or Patriot
Third graders use primary sources to study U.S. history and government. In this primary sources lesson, 3rd graders practice gathering information from "eye witness" accounts of history.
Curated OER
Primary Resources
Primary Resources offers free lessonplan for teachers, throughout the year the site supplies information and will accept incoming lessonplans to its data base.Teachers can keep updated at primary resources by subscribing to RSS feeds.
Curated OER
The Conestoga Wagon
Learners research the Conestoga wagon. In this early transportation lesson, students use primary documents to research how the invention of the Conestoga wagon improved transportation.
Curated OER
Sustained Resistance
Eleventh graders research events that led up to the Civil Rights movement using primary source documents that show attitudes about lynching.
Curated OER
Women: Struggle and Triumph
Students perform research using primary resources in order to create a knowledge base for the place of women in society. The sources are synthesized by students to reveal the true story of the extraordinary women of America.
Curated OER
Rights and Responsibilities in History
Students research rights and responsibilities in historic themes using primary source documents. They produce an iMovie including appropriate images and sounds.
iCivics
DBQuest: The Nashville Sit-In Movement
What was it like to be a part of the sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement? Learners consider the question and whether the protests were effective using an online documents-based investigation. The program allows for virtual...
Curated OER
African American Life in the Nineteenth Century
Students read about the life and work of John and Mary Jones. Using primary source documents, they draw conclusions about their role in the abolistionist movement. They also examine artifacts from their lives and analyze their portrait...
Curated OER
1900 America: Historical Voices, Poetic Visions
Students examine the United States at the turn of the century. Using primary source documents, they interpret them within a specific historical context. Using this information, they write a poem with metaphors and a specific meter They...
Curated OER
Colonialism/The Arab/Israeli Conflict
Investigate critical historical issues using primary source documents then gather and evaluate information regarding the Jewish and Arab claims to land in Israel. Learners use their findings to prepare detailed timelines of events during...
Curated OER
Twain's Hannibal
Young scholars use primary resources to examine the context the writings of Mark Twain. They criticize the resources for reliability, accuracy, perspective, relevancy, and authoritativeness.
Curated OER
Compare Present Day Photographs to Historical Photographs from the Museum's Collection
Eighth graders discuss photojournalism and then compare present day to historical photographs. They discuss how photos capture daily life and historical events, compare historic photos to those seen today, then take and make a photo book...
Curated OER
Seeking a Fortune in 18th Century Maritime Boston
Study the Revolutionary War era practice of recruiting seamen to prey upon the British shipping industry, and discuss the impact this practice had on the Colonial war efforts. Learners read and interpret recruiting advertisements for...