Source: Benjamin Franklin
Research and learn about some of the methods that Benjamin Franklin designed or employed to improve himself intelluctually, morally and physically. Create and follow a personal self-improvement plan.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Health & Fitness, Social Studies
Topics: Mental/Emotional Health. Ethics. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Dead
Explore scientific methods for evaluating historical events by investigating four reasons behind the mysterious deaths that occurred in the early days of the colony of Jamestown.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech, Social Studies
Topics: Scientific Inquiry. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Benjamin Franklin
Research the use, content and popularity of broadsides. Create a modern broadside.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts, Social Studies
Topics: Journalism. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Benjamin Franklin
Explore the origins and history of almanacs and learn about standard features of historic as well as current almanacs. Examine the role and importance of almanacs in colonial America.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: Journalism. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Benjamin Franklin
Explore the reasons Benjamin Franklin made some of his inventions. Learn the process that inventors follow.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech, Social Studies
Topics: Design & Invention. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Slavery and the Making of America
Investigate the distinct forms of knowledge that enslaved Africans brought with them to America or developed while enslaved. Construct a contest in which participants will be queried on different topics related to slavery in America.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: Cultural Studies: African American Studies. United States History: 1585-1763. United States History: 1754-1820s.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Conquistadors
Examine problems incurred by the Incas during the Spanish colonization, and compare them to problems in the American colonies before the Revolution. Consider whether Spain owes the Incas for the problems caused during the Spanish Conquest.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: United States History: 1585-1763. World History: 1500-1750.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Benjamin Franklin
Explore Benjamin Franklin's pseudonyms and the reasons he chose to use them. Examine some of Franklin's letters and articles written under pseudonyms, and consider the benefits of writing from different perspectives.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts, Social Studies
Topics: Journalism. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Benjamin Franklin
Examine Benjamin Franklin as the "Patron Saint of Advertising". Research the history of advertising, including techniques and audiences and explore the development of advertising over the years.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: Media Studies. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Race - The Power of an Illusion
Explore American racial ideology as it began to evolve in late 17th-century Jamestown and Virginia. Consider one's own assumptions about what race is and is not.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: United States History: 1585-1763. United States History: 1850-1877.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: NOVA
Draw inferences about seventeenth-century American colonists by examining a primary source document that describes the possessions of one household.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Reading & Language Arts, Social Studies
Topics: Critical Thinking Skills. Anthropology/Cultures. Archeology. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Benjamin Franklin
Research the history of science focusing on the 18th century and beliefs of the colonial period in America. Examine the background of 18th-century scientific belief, and compare these beliefs with current scientific understanding.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech, Social Studies
Topics: Design & Invention. Energy. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Liberty! The American Revolution
Examine why colonists, many of whom felt strong loyalties to the British Empire, decided to abandon their mother country and join the Revolution.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: United States History: 1585-1763. United States History: 1754-1820s.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Africans In America
Examine how race-based slavery developed in the early 17th century, shifting from bond labor to slave labor in the British American colonies. Trace the development of laws that enforced the slave status of Africans and their descendants.
Grade Level: 9-12
Subjects: Social Studies
Topics: Cultural Studies: African American Studies. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
Source: Secrets of the Dead
Identify the distinguishing features of the Kingdom Fungi, and research the possibility that a particularly toxic fungus may have caused the events leading to the Salem Witch Trials. Sort various fungi into "good" or "bad" categories.
Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12
Subjects: Science & Tech, Social Studies
Topics: Classification. Microbiology. United States History: 1585-1763.
Resource Type: Lesson Plan
