The student will apply social science skills to understand the factors that shaped Colonial America by describing colonial life in America from the perspectives of large landowners, farmers, artisans, merchants, women, free African Americans, indentured servants, and enslaved African Americans, by creating a computational artifact.

Students will analyze multiple sources to determine which of the causes of the Civil War each source best supports. Students will support their choices with evidence from the source and their own understanding of the causes of the Civil War.

In this lesson, students will be introduced to the idea of decomposition. Specifically the lesson caters to math word problems, but could be easily modified to any subject (as found in the modificaitons section of the lesson plan). Students will engage with each other and the vocab to work through an easy process to decompose word problems into manaeagable pieces as a strategy to solve. All activities are low prep and can be modified to your needs. This can be a stand alone lesson or expanded by using Part 2 and Part 3 to deepen understanding through coding activities. 

In small groups, students will be assigned two of the first ten amendments and pose the questions, “Which of these two amendments do you think is more important?” and “Why do you believe this?” in a survey of ten classmates. Then they will collect and organize the data electronically to create two visual representations of their information. Students will add their raw data and visualizations to a shared slideshow to present their findings to the class and explain why they chose this particular visualization model and what conclusions they can draw from their survey responses.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2010256.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Students will examine the life of Phillis Wheatley. They will explore how as a woman, Phillis was able to fight for freedom during the American Revolution as enslaved, or formerly enslaved people. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to learn more about the life and journey of Phillis, as well as her impact on historical events.

Students practice engaging with art, making meaning from that interaction, and considering how art can connect us to people and ideas across time and place. Use this before a museum visit to set the stage for a rich in-gallery experience that is inquiry-based.

Structure this simple activity in a way that makes sense for your class. Make a game of it, use written responses to augment discussion, frame it in the lens of your academic discipline, etc.

This simple, scaffolded discussion activity fosters creative and critical thinking and communication skills. Citizenship skills are encouraged as well: making personal connections with art, students are invited to extending these ideas by considering the common and divergent values of the whole group.

Students will use their knowledge and understanding of the lives and contributions of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln with focus on the Civil War era by reconstructing key aspects of their lives that connect them to the Civil War.

Students are asked to use the provided source material to answer the central historical question: Why did African Americans join the Union Army during the Civil War?

Students will select a person, persons, or event from the Pre-war to Civil War era that had a significant impact on African American and United States history. They will design a monument or a memorial and create a proposal for it.

Students will examine the life of Crispus Attucks and/or James Lafayette. They will explore how both men were able to fight for their freedom as enslaved, or formerly enslaved people. Students will analyze primary and secondary sources to learn more about the life and journey of  both of these men, as well as their impact on historical events.

This teaching guide and activity seeks to introduce primary sources to students so that theyT can understand how to analyze and interpret them to make conclusions about the past. The primary sources the students will analyze are from the John Marshall House’s collection. All of the sources presented, both objects and written, focus on the theme of clothing during the Early Republic (1780-1820), the period in which John Marshall lived. This teaching guide and activity follow the Virginia Standards of Learning from 4th-6th grade, but may be applicable for other grades/ages.

In this activity students will analyze various forms of primary sources, images and text, based on differing accounts of the Boston Massacre.  Students will use this information to construct a historically accurate timeline (story) using the website twinery.org.

Fifth grade students in Michigan begin their study of American history with American Indian peoples before the arrival of European explorers and conclude with the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791.