You Decide: Should we all be vegetarians?
This educational guide focuses on both sides of the vegetarianism debate. Students are invited to examine the nutritional, environmental, health and lifestyle issues, developing critical thinking skills as they work through the activities. Students will learn how to support their arguments with evidence and reason. It is expected that at the end of this guide students will determine where they stand on this controversial issue.
You Decide: Is the Bush administration doing enough to protect the environment?
This educational guide focuses on environmental issues and the role of the Bush administration in safeguarding the energy requirements of the nation while at the same time protecting the environment from pollution and toxic emissions. Students are invited to examine the arguments on both sides of the debate, developing critical thinking skills as they work through the activities. Students will learn how to support their arguments with evidence and reason. It is expected that at the end of this g
Representing History: Cambodia - Through the Shadows
This unit introduces students to the modern history of Cambodia in the context of the Cold War. It examines the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam and the way both countries became drawn into the power struggle between the US and Western capitalism and the Sino Soviet communist axis in the east. Through viewing and discussion of the video and investigating the web resources, students can begin to understand the conventions of documentary in offering access to a version of the truth.
Art Meets Nature: Natalie Jeremijenko
SPARK follows conceptual artist/engineer Natalie Jeremjienko as she works on her One Tree(s) project, planting 100 pairs of cloned trees throughout the Bay Area. This Educator Guide explores conceptual art as well as the investigative and ethical issues of life science and cloning.
You Decide: Do Americans pay too much in federal income tax?
This educational guide focuses on federal income tax, investigating different tax systems and the fairness and efficacy of each. Students are invited to examine the arguments on both sides of the debate, developing critical thinking skills as they work through the activities. Students will learn how to support their arguments with evidence and reason. It is expected that at the end of this guide students will determine where they stand on this controversial issue.
Opportunity and Discrimination, A Dream of Gold
The lesson focuses on what it means to be a citizen of the United States and why the Chinese Exclusion Act is important when considering the concept of racism. It provides critical thinking activities directed at understanding how the Chinese used the legal system and the Constitution of the United States.
Representing History: North Korea - Behind the Wire
This unit introduces students to North Korea, a communist country that is seen by the West as an autocratic regime in contrast to the democratic, capitalist South Korea. Students will examine how their preconceptions as an audience affect their understanding of this documentary.
Peace Is Hard Work
In this lesson, students will create their own lists of what they consider to be the characteristics of a successful peacemaker. They will then research two peacemakers - Jody Williams and Desmond Tutu - and consider how each laureate might take action to end a specific conflict that is happening at the present time.
Finding Racial Stereotypes in Popular Culture
In this lesson students analyze current media and determine if racial stereotyping exists and consider causes of and remedies for racial stereotyping.
Show Me a Picture and I'll Tell You a Story: Web Photo Journals
Students analyze and evaluate "photo journal" web sites, then create their own Web-based photo journal.
Creating and Evaluating Ethnic Advertising
In this lesson students research how advertising agencies market products for different ethnic groups and how they generally target specific audiences.
Creating an Ethnic Student Newspaper
In this lesson students analyze news articles and features covered by ethnic newspapers in both the past and present. They will also have the opportunity to create a school newspaper.
With Strings Attached: Hollywood's Gift to a Navajo Family
In this lesson, students explore issues of culture and identity and learn about Navajo culture by examining the perspectives of those portrayed in the film, Return of Navajo Boy.
What's Growing in That Dish?
In this lesson, students will view the clips of the video discussing the discovery of penicillin and the scientific discovery process. They will then run their own open-ended experiments to see how body molds and bacteria respond to variable substances.
The Television Confessional
This lesson introduces students to confessional television as a genre. Students discuss the conventions of confessional television and explore viewpoint from the perspective of participants and the audience. Students examine their own response to the genre and create a confessional television show of their own.
What Is a Neighborhood?
A lesson for students to think about the neighborhood they live in and what makes a neighborhood.
Managing Stress
The aim of this lesson is to enable students to be aware of how to manage their approach to studying to reduce stress. It is the fifth lesson in the study skills series and is intended to support adult learners who are embarking on a course of study and need to acquire skills which will help them to be successful. The lessons are designed as a package with key skills reinforced in each subsequent lesson so that a study culture is developed over time. They can be delivered sequentially or used in
Portfolio Building
The aim of this lesson is to develop students' understanding of the importance of portfolio building. It is the seventh lesson in the study skills series and is intended to support adult learners who are embarking on a course of study and need to acquire skills which will help them to be successful. The lessons are designed as a package with key skills reinforced in each subsequent lesson so that a study culture is developed over time. They can be delivered sequentially or used individually, as
The Thomas Jefferson Papers
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents. This is the largest collection of original Jefferson documents in the world. Document types in the collection as a whole include correspondence, commonplace books, financial account books, and manuscript volumes. The collection is organized into ten series or groupings, ranging in date from 1606 to 1827. Correspondence, memoranda, notes, and drafts of documents
Today in History
This sit efeatures a different person or event in history each day. Past features include Frederick Douglass, Woodrow Wilson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Banneker, Rosa Parks, Samuel Slater, Louisa May Alcott, Radio City Arts Hall, the Wright brothers' first flight, the Bill of Rights, the Gadsden Purchase, the Federal Reserve System, the Wounded Knee massacre, Pearl Harbor, the first controlled nuclear fission chain reaction, and more.
