Colonial
Revolutionary War
Civil War
Immigration
20th Century
Civil Rights Movement
Progressive Movement
Colonial
Jamestown: The Starving Time
This
lesson provides a great opportunity for students to engage in real
historical inquiry with prepared sources. The lesson is displayed in
three locations on the site: the student view, which guides the student
through the activity; the teacher view, which provides additional
background information; and a PDF file that contains scripted
instructions for the lesson.
Midnight Ride of Paul Revere: Fact, Fiction, and Artistic License
This
lesson asks students to use primary source evidence to assess Grant
Wood’s famous 1931 painting, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Students
must also determine the event's historical significance. This lesson
offers a wealth of resources for analyzing artwork as historical
evidence and provides a nice example for using artwork along with
written documents to learn about the past.
Revolutionary War
The Boston Massacre: Fact, Fiction, or Bad Memory
With
iconic historical events such as the Boston Massacre it can be
difficult to separate historical fact from myth. This lesson acquaints
students with some of the subtleties of constructing historical
accounts. It allows them to see firsthand the role of point of view,
motive for writing, and historical context in doing history.
Civil War
The Multiple Dilemmas of Abraham Lincoln
This
lesson, an interactive historical simulation, presents students with
five difficult decisions Abraham Lincoln made between his election in
November 1860 and the battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861. The strength
of this lesson is the wealth of primary and secondary source evidence
that it uses to help students understand the challenging questions
Lincoln faced.
Civil War Photos: What Do You See?
This
lesson provides an excellent opportunity to teach students how to
analyze historical photographs. Focusing on one photograph of a piece of
Civil War artillery (though making use of a variety of other images),
the lesson guides students step by step in carefully analyzing various
elements of the photograph.
A Look at Slavery Through Posters and Broadsides
This
well-planned lesson, which uses posters on slavery and abolition,
teaches students to ask important questions as they read a primary
source.
Roads to Antietam
This
lesson on the Battle of Antietam provides an excellent opportunity to
both teach military history and promote historical thinking skills.
Students will hone these skills as they analyze two documents written by
General Lee on the eve of the Battle of Antietam. The first document,
Lee’s 1862 Proclamation to the people of Maryland, sheds light on Lee’s
motivations for invading Maryland. The second document, Special Orders
#191, is Lee’s marching orders that were famously intercepted by the
Union Army before the battle.
What Events Led to Lincoln's Assassination?
The best thing about this lesson is the primary account of the crime by an eyewitness observer.
Immigration
Immigration
Immigration: Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems
20th Century
Causes of World War I
This
video shows a 9th-grade history class applying new knowledge about
causal reasoning to the question of whether two bullets were, in fact,
responsible for the start of World War I.
Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art from World War II
Created
for a 1994 exhibit, this site examines poster art as a method of
persuasion during World War II. Featuring 33 posters and one audio
clip--the song "Any Bonds Today?"--the materials are divided into two
sections.
Pictures of World War II
Civil Rights and Incarceration
In
this lesson students view and take notes on a 10-minute newsreel
describing the evacuation and relocation of Japanese Americans from
western states during World War II. Students analyze the movie using a
handout.
Woman Suffrage and the 19th Amendment
This lesson is anchored by nine primary source documents related to the women's suffrage movement, from 1868 to 1920.
Civil Rights Movement
Opening Up the Textbook: Rosa Parks
This
easy-to-follow lesson cuts to the heart of historical thinking. Its
strength is that it requires students to go to the sources in order to
develop historical knowledge.
Progressive Movement
The Cost of Industrialization
One
of the greatest strengths of this lesson is its wealth and variety of
primary sources. In addition to firsthand narrative accounts, the site
also includes many photographs and political cartoons for students to
analyze.