NCSS has selected a collection of classroom activities, teaching ideas, and articles from Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner. Browse the collection, or search by historical period and grade level using the search function below.
(Collections on other disciplines are under development.)
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Using YouTube to Teach Presidential Election Propaganda: Twelve Representative Videos
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 4:55pm--Wayne Journell
Teachers can use this selection of campaign ads to help students analyze various aspects of political propaganda.
Printer-friendly versionThe Meaning of Memory: Establishing the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Tue, 11/03/2009 - 4:56pm--Mira Cohen
Some memorable days in our nation’s history are declared holidays, while others are considered days of remembrance. This article explores the process of establishing a holiday to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.
Teaching Presidential Impeachment
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 3:15pm--Jean A. Luckowsi and James J. Lopach
An issues-centered approach to impeachment can help students to both appreciate the wisdom of our constitutional framework and understand why such strong differences over how to interpret the Constitution emerged in the recent debate over impeaching President Clinton.
Students Preserve an Emancipation Site with Archaeological Technology
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 2:54pm--Paul LaRue
High school students in Ohio combine study with experience as they unearth and clean artifacts in order to re-create the history of an early settlement of emancipated slaves.
“Life in a Jar”: A National History Day Project that Touched the World
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 3:10pm--Norman Conard
After learning about a Polish woman who saved 2,500 Jewish children during World War II, students in Kansas created a play for National History Day that is still being performed today, more than 10 years later.
Since You Asked: Remembering America’s Veterans
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 3:22pm--Barbara Hatch
Through the Arizona Heritage Project, students work to document their local history and preserve the stories of Arizona’s military veterans.
The WPA American Guide Series: Local History Treasures for the Classroom
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 3:25pm--Syd Golston
The state guidebooks created by writers, academics, and historians under FDR’s jobs program offer a wealth of social history that will lead students to a greater understanding of their own towns as part of the panorama of American history.
Learning and Writing about Local History Using the Internet
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 3:37pm--C. Frederick Risinger
The websites presented here will help educators integrate local history projects that not only stimulate student interest, but build research and presentation skills.
The Constitution by Cell (Teaching with Documents)
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Fri, 04/16/2010 - 3:42pm--Stephanie Greenhut and Megan Jones
A pilot program at the National Archives challenges students to determine how certain documents illustrate the Constitution “in action,” then create digital stories using cellular phones and web tools.
It is My Desire to be Free: Annie Davis’s Letter to Abraham Lincoln and Winslow Homer’s Painting ... (Teaching with Documents)
Submitted by Jennifer Bauduy on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 10:07am--Michael Hussey and Elizabeth K. Eder
A study of the featured document and painting will give students a greater understanding of the multi-step process of emancipation and the changing relationship that developed between freed slaves and former slave owners.
