Medicine and Public Health in American History, Fall 2007
This course offers an introduction to differing conceptions of disease, health, and healing throughout American history, the changing role and image of medicine and medical professionals in American life, and the changing social and cultural meanings and entanglements of medical science and practice throughout American history.
North American Drought: A Paleo Perspective - 20th Century Drought
This site provides background information on the effects of the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, the 1950s drought, and the 1987-1989 drought in the Great Plains of the American Midwest. It features discussions of the extent of each drought and the economic damage incurred, using text, photographs and graphic illustrations. A link to a discussion of the Palmer Drought Severity Index is included.
AP Government & Politics
AP U.S. Government & Politics is assembled from UC-approved college preparatory courses. Upon completion of this course, student will be able to: express ideas clearly in writing; work individually and with classmates to research political issues; interpret and apply data from original documents such as court cases and bills; write to persuade with evidence; develop essay responses that include a clear, defensible thesis statement and supporting evidence; raise and explore questions about polici
Thurmond: A Town Born from Coal Mines and Railroads
Recounts the story of the New River Gorge area in West Virginia. It is mountainous and remained sparsely populated and largely inaccessible until 1873, when the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company laid track through the gorge. Coal mining companies, towns, and camps appeared almost overnight to mine the coal deposits. One of these towns, the railroading town of Thurmond, reached its peak as the major revenue producer for the C&O Railroad during the early 1900s, a time when coal was king.
Measurable You!
This lesson introduces an anthropometric measurement system developed to identify and track people in the penal system in late 19th and early 20th century. Students conduct a guided experiment and discussions while collecting anthropometric measurements, exploring the impact of experimental errors in a scientific system, and explaining their observations/findings in writing.
The New Genetics
This brochure explains the process by which all living things pass genes to their offspring. Discover how genes serve as instruction books for making molecules (such as RNA and proteins) that perform the chemical reactions in our bodies. Learn how genes influence health and disease. Find out how studies of evolution drive medical research and how computers are advancing genetics in the 21st century.
Painting in the Dutch Golden Age: A Profile of the Seventeenth Century
Painting in the Dutch Golden Age: A Profile of the Seventeenth Century examines the culture and art of one of the world's greatest periods of creativity. The sheer volume—and outstanding quality—of the paintings produced can scarcely be paralleled. A 164-page book provides background information about the newly independent Dutch Republic and the nexus of its art and civics. Chapters look at landscape, still life, portraiture, and genre and history painting. Also included are artist biographi
Nineteenth Century America in Art and Literature
In the United States, the nineteenth century was a time of tremendous growth and change. The new nation experienced a shift from a farming economy to an industrial one, major westward expansion, displacement of native peoples, rapid advances in technology and transportation, and a civil war. In this lesson, works of art from the nineteenth century are paired with written documents, including literary selections, a letter, and a speech. As budding historians, students can use these primary source
Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting
The word "Renaissance" in the exhibition title refers, in the traditional sense, to the rebirth of antiquity—the revival of interest in classical art, literature, and philosophy. But here it also signifies that Venetian painting was transformed—reborn—in the opening decades of the sixteenth century. The exhibition focuses on the period from 1500 to 1530, which represents, visually and intellectually, the most exciting phase of the Renaissance in Venice, when three great masters, the old Be
Counting on Art
In Counting on Art, students will explore the paintings of Horace Pippin and Wayne Thiebaud and the mobiles of Alexander Calder to discover and practice math and visual art concepts.In Pippin's Story, young children (grades K–3) focus on a painting by African American artist Horace Pippin. They will learn how to "read" the clues in a painting and write a story about the work. Students will also solve counting and time problems and create their own "secret number" painting.Calder's Balancing Ac
Toulouse-Lautrec and Montmartre
This site focuses on paintings, posters, and other works by Lautrec depicting the decadent spirit and bohemian life of this hilltop working-class district on the outskirts of Paris at the turn of the 20th century. A special web feature discusses Montmartre celebrities, cafes and cabarets, brothels, and circuses portrayed by Lautrec (1864-1901), as well as his first lithograph -- the poster that made him an overnight sensation.
British Painting
This site provides a brief history of painting in Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries, when English artists began developing their own styles in marine, allegorical, and landscape painting. Paintings are organized in online tours of British conversation pieces and portraits, landscapes of Constable and Turner, the Royal Academy of Art, British and American grand manner portraits, and British and American history paintings.
Advent of Jazz
Jazz grew out of the African-American community at the turn of the 20th century, a time when blacks were being denied their most basic rights. The music has since become a part of every American's birthright, a timeless symbol of American individualism and ingenuity, American democracy and inclusiveness. In this lesson students will learn about the social, cultural, and economic origins of jazz within the African-American community.
Bebop and Modernism
In this lesson students will study how social and economic changes in post–World War II America influenced arts and culture. Students will learn about the experience of African Americans in the postwar period, including the civil rights movement and desegregation, and the influence of these experiences on African-American culture. Students will study how competition with the Soviet Union during the Cold War contributed to the popularity of jazz around the world. They will learn about the music
A More Perfect Union
This lesson is designed to show the process of perfecting the Union through changes made to the Constitution and through the powers delegated to each branch of government by the Constitution. The lesson encourages student deliberation on race in America by familiarizing students with Senator Obama's speech entitled, A More Perfect Union, his famous race speech, given at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in March 2008. Students are asked to read the speech for homework, guided by e
Meeting Standards with Our Documents
As an assessment activity at the end of a U.S. History survey course, provide students with copies of appropriate national, state and/or local curriculum standards and a list of all of the 100 Our Documents. Divide the class into groups of three or four and assign each group an equal number of the Our Documents. Ask students to conduct secondary research to correlate their Documents to the standards. Allow each group to present their findings orally to the class. The result will be a ready-made
Anti-Railroad Propaganda Poster: The Growth of Regionalism, 1800-1860
This lesson uses a poster decrying the disruptive influence of railroads on local culture to launch a discussion on local differences and their effect on American politics. Explanatory text, materials for teachers, and links to further resources accompany the documents. This lesson correlates to the National History Standards and the National Standards for Civics and Social Sciences. It also has cross-curricular connections with history, government, and art.
Learning from the Fossil Record
This is a hypertext version of a book originally published by the Paleontological Society. The book was written to accompany an educational workshop Learning from the Fossil Record presented for K-16 educators at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of American in Denver, Colorado. The workshop was intended to give K-12 teaches information on how scientists use fossil evidence to reconstruct the past. It also offered ideas about using paleontology to teach the scientific process.
Lewis and Clark: Women
Indian women influenced the expedition despite the fact that Lewis and Clark had little direct contact with them. All along the way, Lewis and Clark wrote that Indian women were oppressed; they failed, however, to see the various powers that these women possessed. Their understanding of a woman's role in society was based on a Euro-American model. Sacagawea was the only woman to accompany Lewis and Clark on their journey west. It is the goal of this unit to investigate both Sacagawea's role as t
Light, optics and lenses
Physical Science Content Standard B of the National Science Education Standards encompasses transfer of energy and specifically states, Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). We begin with early investigations into the nature of light that culminated in the current understanding of the nature of light, both visible and invisible as the same physical laws apply to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. From there student
