Spending time with a work of art can be an opportunity for thoughtful inquiry and ideation. For students, documenting their ideas as they work to interpret an artwork offers the chance to exercise metacognition. With this interactive exercise featuring an artwork from the Mughal Empire, students can gain insight into how they process information and formulate ideas. This activity is good practice for formulating research questions and synthesizing ideas.

Students today have heard much about the tragedy of 9/11, but most likely have little knowledge about terrorism of the twentieth century or worldwide terrorism.  This lesson was inspired by a lesson in the Virginia Department of Education’s Enhanced Scope and Sequence for World History II which included the questions and charts which are used in this lesson (found on pages 193-195).  The chart is attached below and questions have been added to a Google Form. This lesson introduces students to terrorist activities around the world and culminates in a cooperative learning experience in which students will research different terrorist events and create a timeline of those events.

The second of two lessons on Islamic Empires, students examine maps showing the territorial extent of each of the three major Islamic Caliphates. This examination, showing the same territory through different time periods, provides a springboard for analyzing historical factors underlying the territorial changes. Students also explore cultural, economic, and political factors that account for the changing borders as they match explanations associated with the changes in the maps. Key questions: How did the borders of the Islamic Empires change through time? What cultural, economic, and political factors could account for the changing borders?

The first of two lessons on Islamic Empires, students examine physical maps and assess the possibility of geographic obstacles to the diffusion of Islam. They also explore connections among locations that are incorporated into the succession of empires. Students tie events and locations together through the creation of an annotated map based on selected events. The lesson concludes with an examination of a concentric circle map that provides a rough estimate of distances among the various locations. Key questions: How has physical geography influenced the expansion of the Islamic Empire? Why and how did Islam diffuse so rapidly?

This Story Map Journal emphasizes geography’s impact on United States’ strategy in fighting World War II in the Pacific.  Students, through the use of Library of Congress resources explore geography’s impact on the average soldier in the Pacific.  They will also chart the progress that the armed forces made in their attempt to hop over non-strategic islands in their attempts to get ever closer to the home islands of Japan. Based on the images obtained from the Library of Congress, students will  be able to critically assess the toll that the geography of the Pacific took on soldiers. Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

The first of three lessons on Pre-Columbian era with a focus how the Mesoamerica physical environment influenced human activities. Students apply the concept of relative location as they interpret and analyze a series of maps about the physical environment including topography, climate, and vegetation. Students identify possible challenges Pre-Columbian civilizations faced and make predictions about the civilization’s social, political and economic response to the environment. Key questions: What are the physical characteristics of Mesoamerica?; How did the physical environment influence the development of Mesoamerican civilizations?; How did the Aztecs and Maya overcome the limitations of their physical environment?

The second of three lessons on Pre-Columbian era with a focus how the South American physical environment influenced human activities. Students apply the concept of relative location as they interpret and analyze a series of maps about the physical environment including topography, climate, and vegetation. Students identify possible challenges Pre-Columbian civilizations faced and make predictions about the civilization’s social, political and economic response to the environment. Key questions: What characteristics distinguished the physical environment of the Incan civilization?; How does location influence the development of a civilization?; How did the Incas overcome the limitations of their physical environment?

The third of three lessons on Pre-Columbia era with a focus on cultural landscapes. These reflect ideas and beliefs of a place’s inhabitants and include shelter, religious and government buildings, monuments, and more. Students develop and refine the skill of interpreting images to support hypotheses and uncover similarities and differences among the civilizations of the Americas. Key questions: How have different cultures shaped their cultural landscapes?; How does the cultural landscape provide evidence of human interaction with the environment?

Students will analyze the Pears' Soap advertisement to identify which motivation for European imperialism is evidenced in the ad.

Students will analyze the Pears' Soap advertisement to identify which motivation for European imperialism is evidenced in the ad.

Students will analyze the Pears' Soap advertisement to identify which motivation for European imperialism is evidenced in the ad.

Students will analyze the Pears' Soap advertisement to identify which motivation for European imperialism is evidenced in the ad.

Students will analyze the Pears' Soap advertisement to identify which motivation for European imperialism is evidenced in the ad.

Remixed to include picture.

Create a museum exhibit that will explore a specific historical time period or event through the display and analysis of historical artifacts and primary sources.

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the U.S. foreign policy toward the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  The lesson includes an introduction, primary source document and analysis sheet, and a Google Worksheet.  Students will use social science skills to analyze a primary source and they will research the web and web articles to answer questions on various Cold War policies.  

This Story Map Journal centers on World War One. This was a conflict on a level never before seen on the planet. Initially, the conflict was largely a European affair until an impressive piece of spy work by the British intelligence community brought the USA into the conflict. Key Questions: How and why did the U.S. become involved in the Great War? How was the United States able to stay out of the war initially? What were the factors that led to the U.S. declaration of war? What were the logistics behind U.S. mobilization? How did the U.S. strategy differ from that of the Allies? How and when did the war end? Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

This is a lecture that can be used to give students a general understanding of Jewish tradition and holy days (holidays).

Students will be immersed in a part of each of the 5 ancient civilizations and learn about either architecture or daily life using a VR headset and Youtube App.

Students break down a large task into smaller pieces in this lesson about Wars from 1500.

In this lesson we will discuss the story of  The Three Little Pigs and the types of houses that they built.  Which ones were stronger and why?   How do people protect themselves?  In Ancient China they used a wall. Did that wall protect them?  How?  What are other ways people protect themselves?  In today’s world we need to protect ourselves using strong passwords.  How do we make a strong password?  Today you will build a strong password.  Then you will build a great wall that is as strong as the password that you created!