The era after the Civil War saw a flourishing of African Americans exercising their rights. Using graphic organizers and Internet research, pupils consider the legacy of Benjamin Sterling Turner, who sat in Congress. Afterward, they...

One photograph can represent so much more than the images on the film. Eighth graders select a photograph from the Civil War era and conduct additional research based on the subject matter from the picture. Once they complete the...

Students review the people, places, and events of a particular decade of the 20th Century. They write a report about that decade and create a booth of memorabilia, music, dress, pictures and other artifacts representing the time period.

Pupils practice researching sources and logging citation information with this graphic organizer. After posing a general topic, groups of students are asked to devise general questions about that topic, and to research sources...

Students, who are adult learners, participate in an Internet scavenger hunt in order to assimilate information about the biography of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers. They look at the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers...

Who is buried in this tomb? Trek to a local cemetery, take pictures of markers, explore records, and conduct interviews to bring to life the stories behind the stones. Use Olympus and Tool Factory to coordinate and gather information...

Students explore play writing.  In this literacy and technology lesson plan, students choose a familiar historical event and write a play with the corresponding setting.  Students write text and dialogue, produce sound...

Students research Truman Library website and gather ten trivia facts. They prepare a short oral presentation on one of their questions, scoring each other on speaking and listening skills. Then they create a Truman campaign button.

Students will analyze primary source documents related to the National History Day (NHD) theme for 2011-12: Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History, determine how the documents are connected to the theme, and evaluate the effectiveness...

In this activity, students will analyze documents pertaining to the women's suffrage movement as it intensified following passage of the 15th Amendment that guaranteed the right to vote for African American males. Documents were chosen...

This activity can be used as an introduction or for a closer study of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Students will learn that the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803 and President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and...

In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Dred Scott decision that African-Americans were not citizens of the United States. Yet within 18 years, Black Americans would not only have citizenship, but would be guaranteed the right to...

A varied collection of primary resources from American history. They include portraits, banknotes, artifacts, newspaper items, paintings, and illustrations.

With a brief story and photo of an image, students will do some digging to figure out how old the object pictured is and the history behind it.

In this activity students will analyze documents that span the course of American history to determine their connection to the different phrases found within the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

In this activity, students will closely examine two food nutrition guideline posters from the USDA to determine the government's purpose in creating such guidelines and how they have changed over time. Students will also question how...

In this activity, students will match documents to visualize ways that Americans contributed to the war effort on the homefront during World War I. Students will see a payoff image related to the armistice celebration and reflect on the...

Students will analyze specified passages from the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Libellants of Schooner Amistad to explore the concept of jurisdiction and how a case travels through the federal court system.

Students will draw upon the visual and textual data presented in photographs and documents to gain an understanding of how the federal school lunch program is a direct result of the Great Depression, how it became a permanent part of the...

This short comparative analysis activity involves comparing and contrasting two images of marches for freedom - a 1917 march of suffragists and the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom by Civil Rights leaders. Students will...

Students will analyze primary sources related to the New Deal. They will analyze specific documents to determine if overall the New Deal represents a revolution or a reform in our history.

Learners will consider the arguments made by members of the Continental Congress regarding whether or not to sign the Declaration of Independence. They will also have the opportunity to analyze each section of the Declaration to...

In this activity, learners will identify and analyze national monuments and buildings to discover how they represent American people, ideas and institutions.

In this activity, students will examine the original and final drafts of the Constitution and evaluate the significance of the selection of the words 'We the People.'