Lesson Plans

In this lesson, students reflect on the Holocaust from the point of view of those who actively resisted Nazi persecution. Weigh the choices faced by those for whom resistance seemed both futile and the essence of survival.

Students compare imagined travel experiences of their own with the actual experiences of 19th-century pioneers.

In this lesson about Galileo, students test the arguments on both sides of the case that shook the foundations of faith and science.

Learn how committees influence the legislative agenda and why your representatives’ committee assignments matter to you.

Using the life of Davy Crockett as a model, students learn the characteristics of tall tales and how these stories reflect their historical moment. The lesson culminates with students writing a tall tale of their own.

Trace similar motifs in the artwork and folklore of India, Africa, the Maya, and Native Americans.

Help your students understand the development of the Declaration as both a historical process and a compositional process through the use of role play and creative writing.

Students analyze archival material such as photos, documents, and posters, to understand the who was involved in constructing, and the lasting phenomenon of, the Transcontinental Railroad.

Work with primary documents and latter-day photographs to recapture the experience of traveling on the Oregon Trail.

While Paul Revere's ride is the most famous event of its kind in American history, other Americans made similar rides during the Revolutionary period.  After learning about some less well known but no less colorful rides that occurred in other locations, students gather evidence to support an argument about why at least one of these "other riders" does or does not deserve to be better known.