One of the first photographed images of the Civil War give historians a glimpse of the realities of war. By viewing images from the war—including pictures of those killed in the bloodiest battles—learners experience the war's impact...

Explore how photographs can represent a whole story to a viewer. Middle schoolers work on narrative writing techniques in this activity, focusing on photographs from the New York Times to write first-person descriptive narratives....

Students bring a favorite photograph to class and discuss what they see and don't see in the photos. They brainstorm with the teacher on the overhead and then translate the information into poetic form.

In this primary source analysis worksheet, students respond to 25 short answer questions that require them to analyze a photograph from the Tennessee State Archives.

Students watch video clips about photographs. They examine the role of photography in the media. They discuss the ethics involved in photojournalism. They inform themselves on news photography as well.

Students explore women’s history. In this women’s studies lesson, students will examine seven photographs that depict prominent female figures from Texas’s history. Students will engage in a discussion of the photographs as a mode of...

The anti-busing movement in Boston is the focus of a instructional activity that asks young historians to examine primary source documents to identify the causes and consequences of busing pupils from one area of the city to another in...

Students create different photographs using photographic techniques of camera angles, lighting, and composition. They write non-fiction stories about people they interview and create two school newsletters that portray a fictional...

Students identify and analyze land use changes over time with historical aerial photographs. They classify different land use into categories.

Students examine a historical photograph to gather information and draw conclusions.

Learners create a photograph that illustrates one of the ways in which they use math. In this math and visual arts instructional activity, students write their own real-life word problems to accompany the photo.

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...

Fourth graders study the details of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake including the fires that lasted for three days. They participate in discussion describing what they feel the city looked like after the earthquake and fires. They...

Students investigate the cultures of Native Americans and Euro-Americans through their clothing.  In this photograph analysis lesson, students observe historic photographs and analyze the style of clothes people wore and how it...

Young scholars read and discuss a news article about scientists capturing first-ever photos of a giant squid in its habitat. They answer comprehension questions, write a journal entry from the scientists point of view, and analyze a...

Students view the series "American Photography". They research information to create their own timeline to show milestones in photography. They share their timeline with the class.

Students examine photographs from the Civil War. Using a primary source document, they discover the conditions of a private during the Battle of Chickamauga. In groups, they use the sources to determine the authnecity of the documents.

"What is the theme of this story?" Now there's a question that can strike fear in the hearts of learners. Here's a lesson that uses photographs to introduce the concept of theme. Scholars examine six photographs and then attach a theme...

Create clay whistles with your elementary or middle school students. The project is outlined in great detail here, complete with step-by-step photographs, finished examples, a materials list, student handouts, and a rubric. Students...

Introduce learners to set of complete instructions that describe how to build a magnetometer that works just like the ones professional photographers use to predict auroras. The diagrams are wonderfully descriptive, and the written...

Young scholars determine how Native Americans were stripped of their cultures. In this Native American history lesson plan, students analyze several photographs of Native Americans and respond to questions about the photographs. Young...

Students explore the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright through literature and analyze photographs. In this photography analysis instructional activity, students read aloud Frank Lloyd Wright and answer questions for the text. Students...

Eleventh graders analyze images from ASU's Historical Photograph Collection.  In this American History lesson, 11th graders examine the achievements of the women's movement. 

Students examine the role of Matthew Brady photographing the Civil War and compare it with the role of photographers embedded in the War in Iraq.