Students investigate who the Mongols were and where their empire was located. They research Kublai Khan and the region he ruled. They study the major products of 13th Century China.

Students examine Marco Polo's route from China to Sumatra. They investigate the geography and climate, the religions and architecture of modern Indonesia. They study the use of spices and why they were so important in medieval times.

Students role play as Marco Polo to detail his travels. They include the terrains, foods, religions, people and cultures that were encountered. They write a journal entry as if they were Marco Polo detailing one aspect of his travels.

Learners investigate Marco Polo's life as a young boy in 13th century Venice. They analyze maps, explore various websites, complete a chart and answer discussion questions, and create a travel brochure about visiting 13th century Venice.

What is on your to-do list today? The second lesson of a three-part series on Lost Heroes of America investigates the laundry list of items in front of the second Continental Congress. Scholars research, analyze, and present information...

Who was Walt Whitman, and what link does he have to president Abraham Lincoln?  After Lincoln's assassination, Whitman wrote "O Captain! My Captain!" This poem and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" are the focus of...

Students give examples to indicate how voting participation changed in the first half of the 19th century, and make connections between changes in voting participation and the results of the election of 1828.

To celebrate Texas, groups plan and create a commemorative map for a topic or theme in Texas history. The richly detailed plan and the approach could easily be adapted to any state. Samples are included.

Study cause and effect in both literature and informational text with a lesson designed for several different reading levels. After kids review the concept of cause and effect, they read an article or story and note the causes and...

Students are able to define microbes and identify the five main groups of microbes. They are able to give examples of ways in which microbes have impacted or currently impact human life. Students are able to explain that not all microbes...

Middle schoolers investigate the working conditions during the Age of Industrialization. They research how workers reacted to the conditions and discuss the results of labor movement.

Why did the Black Panther Party feel colonized, and what methods did they employ to achieve empowerment? Your class members will engage in an online PowerPoint presentation, analysis of several documents, and discussion in order to...

Ancient Hebrew history comes to life through this online western civilizations tool, which follows history in detail from ancient origins to modern-day. Chapter two covers ancient eastern cultures, including beginnings of Hebrew...

A lesson on the holiday known as Boxing Day is here for you. In it, middle schoolers read a passage about the history of the holiday, then complete some reading comprehension worksheets embedded in the plan to reinforce what they have...

Students are introduced to the lives and contributions of the first seven presidents of the United States. They, in groups, conduct further research on one of these president and his political platform and design a presentation for the...

Darwin kept a travel diary as he voyaged to South America, noting the politics, geography, cultures, animals, and interesting facts he encountered. Your class will do the same. Each student chooses a country to research and keep a five...

During the 1800s the United States was expanding westward; land was there for the taking.  Kids explore how some early photographers used their photography to influenced the US Congress to save areas like Mirror Lake. They...

Young historians discover African stories associated with a royal altar tusk from the Kingdom of Benin in Nigeria, read myths illustrated on the tusk, and write a story about the life of an oba using figures depicted on the tusk.

Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...

The final lesson in a unit study of American slavery asks young historians to synthesize what they have learned about how slavery in America changed over time. Revisiting the many documents they have examined, they consider the economic,...

Pupils examine the Aztec civilization in what is now Mexico. Using a map, they locate the empire and explain the legend of the founding of Tenochtitlan. They explore the symbols on various Mexican flags and what they meant to the Aztec...

Students compare graphs of weather occurrences. In this environmental lesson plan, students will being using the website to gather weather related information for a certain time period. The students will then graph the data that will be...