Celebration or protest song? The full text of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" opens a study of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Louisiana Purchase, and Western Expansion from various perspectives. Middle schoolers examine...

Fifth graders will learn about various perspectives around events. They will need to take on the perspectives of various key people during the September 11 attack. Then they will write in their journals about the incident. They read...

Learners understand why historians conduct research and the importance of perception when it comes to studying history. The resource covers The Wars of Expansion and the Battle of Little Bighorn/Greasy Grass through group work, debate,...

Fifth graders have a debate and defend one of the three different perspectives of the Civil War. In this Civil War lesson plan, 5th graders defend either the North, the South, or the Neutral perspectives.

Scholars view comics from two different perspectives; one paints the Alfred Dreyfus as innocent, while the other portrays the exact opposite. They solve the mystery of what happened by analyzing the source, working in groups, and...

A couple PowerPoint presentations are used to stimulate discussion about the perspectives of different countries on the issue of energy consumption. Afterward, they play a game in which each team is assigned a country, considers its...

Confederate soldiers saw the Civil War much differently than their Union counterparts. Scholars analyze the perspective of the Civil War from the viewpoint of various key figures in the fourth installment of an eight-part series. By...

What do the homecoming experiences of soldiers who fought in WWII, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan reveal about the politics and culture of the US during the time period of each war? Young historians view The Way We Get By, which tells...

The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...

Explore events prior to World War II. Learners view replicas of authentic photographs and hand written documents representing the viewpoints of Adolf Hitler and Neville Chamberlain. They discuss alternate viewpoints, consider historical...

Using primary and secondary sources, such as letters and diaries from soldiers and civilians, learners consider why people fought in the American Civil War. A role-playing Historical Mingle activity, as well as discussion questions and...

The only way that a heinous act of genocide can succeed is if citizens of surrounding groups and countries turn their backs on those suffering. A thorough language arts module addresses shared central ideas with three separate units,...

Historical events can be viewed from multiple perspectives. This simple truth is brought home in a lesson that examines primary source documents related to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Doctrine of Discovery and Manifest Destiny,...

Was the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists? As part of a structured academic controversy (SAC) activity, pupils consider multiple perspectives of the Butler Act and engage in close...

George Custer was an interesting historical figure. Learners find out more about his life with a web quest, which presents historical perspectives and contributions of George Custer. They participate in a Custer Q and A session with the...

Kids consider revolution as a basis for creativity, art, and storytelling. After reading an excerpt from the book, Persepolis, learners choose one event from any world revolution to write about. They storyboard the event focusing on...

Everyone's perspective of the past is different. A thought-provoking unit gives young academics the opportunity to explore their perspectives on history and their neighborhoods. Based on the work of Howard Zinn, each lesson explores...

Everyone is an immigrant in their own way. Young scholars read historic documents to understand one woman's journey from Germany to the United States. The activity uses a mixture of text, discussion, and written prompts to help...

Spoken word poetry, more than almost any other form, reveals the historical and cultural perspective of the poet. High schoolers listen to various spoken word poems, select one to research in-depth, and then apply what they have learned...

After analyzing newspaper articles portraying different perspectives of the explosion of the Battleship USS Maine, your young historians will take a stand on which position is the most believable in both discussion and writing.

Students debate the causes of the American Revolution. In this American history lesson, students conduct research to determine how bias and perspective have made their way into historical documents. Students compose essays...

Suffragettes, suffragists, and anti-suffragists. A two-day, richly detailed lesson plan has young historians investigate the twentieth-century suffrage movement. Groups examine primary and secondary source materials about Jane Addams and...

To understand how personal perspectives can affect policy and politics, scholars examine the woman suffrage media map and historical artifacts to analyze arguments for and against women's suffrage. Class members then take on the role of...

Historical fiction can be a valuable asset when learning about the past. Integrate several novels written about the Civil War into your social studies unit, with groups of four working collaboratively to comprehend the novel from...