Education Activities

Four families, three of them related with fifteen children, from the Dust Bowl in Texas in an overnight roadside camp near Calipatria, California

Concept Development: Clarifying the Meaning of Slippery Words & Concepts

What is a slippery word or concept?

Slippery words usually describe big concepts with hard-to-pin-down definitions. What is a slippery word? Continue reading “Concept Development: Clarifying the Meaning of Slippery Words & Concepts”

Road Map & Atlas Activities: Antique Technology in a GPS World

A century ago, paper road maps were free at gas stations. The popularity of road maps grew with the automobile industry. Cars were invented in the late 1800s and in 1901, The Official Automobile Blue Book was first published with step-by-step written instructions for drivers to navigate from town to town and information on where to find gas or other services. However, cars were an expensive luxury item for only the wealthiest until Henry Ford introduced the affordable Model T in 1908. As more Americans bought cars, more miles of highway were paved. Promotional road maps, printed by oil companies and distributed free at gas stations, first appeared in the 1910s. Road maps often featured advertising for local or state businesses to offset costs of printing. Continue reading “Road Map & Atlas Activities: Antique Technology in a GPS World”

Time Travel with Shaker Sister Cyn

Time-travel to the early 19th century Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky with Cynthia Resor (also known as Sister Cyn). Continue reading “Time Travel with Shaker Sister Cyn”

Lewis Hine photo of glass factory workers in Alexandria, Virginia, 1911,

“Who Am I?” – Primary Source Mystery Activity

Do students really understand the tricky and subjective nature of historical primary sources? Start your school year with this fun primary source mystery activity. Students can learn more about you and develop essential primary source analysis skills for lessons throughout the school year. Continue reading ““Who Am I?” – Primary Source Mystery Activity”

Relationship Etiquette: Classroom Activity

Compare and contrast relationship advice for courtship and dating from primary source texts and images from the late 1800s to the1920s to answer these essential questions:

How are modern relationship manners/etiquette the same or different when compared to the past?
What causes relationship manners/etiquette to change over time?
Do relationship manners/etiquette vary by social class? by sex?

Continue reading “Relationship Etiquette: Classroom Activity”

Medieval peasants pruning grape vines, 14th century

Comparing modern nutrition and exercise to the pre-industrial era

3In this activity, students compare and contrast the daily activities and nutrition in the 21st century to those in the medieval era. Continue reading “Comparing modern nutrition and exercise to the pre-industrial era”

Postcards from the Past

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

This maxim is often forgotten by students as they examine primary source documents and texts.

This activity helps students analyze how culture influences how we see and experience the world. Even today, different cultures interpret people, places, and events differently. The task of understanding other people and cultures becomes even more complicated as students analyze historical primary source documents and images. Modern assumptions rarely hold true when exploring the past. Continue reading “Postcards from the Past”

Food through Time: Exploring Social History with Etymology

Changing words reflect our changing lives. This activity using antique or archaic food terminology demonstrates these changes. We rarely use old food words such as shoat, saleratus, or sweetmeats because technology has changed how we cook and eat. Some words such as pudding or collar are still used, but the meaning has changed. Etymology, the history of words over time, is relevant in history and social studies as well as English classes. Exploring the story behind a word can illustrate changes in daily life, social behavior, and technology over time. Historians often examine how the meaning of a word changes in written documents over time to assess change over time. Continue reading “Food through Time: Exploring Social History with Etymology”

QUIZ: What do you know about flappers?

What do you know about flappers? QUIZ

The 1920s flapper is a style icon and symbol of a wild, free-spirited woman. But what do you really know about the history of flappers? Take this quiz to find out.

Quiz: Medieval Clothing

Medieval Fashion Quiz

Test your knowledge of medieval clothing and fashion with this fun quiz!

Quiz: Cemetery & Tombstone Symbols

Quiz: Cemetery Symbols

Test your knowledge of the symbols on tombstones.

Quiz: History of Photography and Motion Pictures

Quiz: The History of Photography and Motion Pictures

Photographs and motion pictures revolutionized how we look at the world, ourselves, and the history of the last two centuries. However, we must be familiar with the history of photography to place images from the past in the proper context. Test your knowledge of the development of photography.

Mincemeat: Teaching History and Geography with a Holiday Food

What is mincemeat? First, take a quiz and then learn about the history of this holiday food using primary source texts and images. Continue reading “Mincemeat: Teaching History and Geography with a Holiday Food”

How has technology changed how we cook over time?

New technology has revolutionized how we cook in the last 200 years. In this primary source activity, students compare historical recipes from American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons to modern recipes to answer the essential question – How has technology changed how we cook over time? Students “taste” the difference between life in the 18th century and today and discuss how technological change impacts every aspect of our daily lives. Continue reading “How has technology changed how we cook over time?”

This 17 x 34 foot, two room hall-and-parlor style house was a common floor plan in 17th and 18th century Virginia. The style spread west throughout the eastern and southern United States.

Teaching Geography and Visual Literacy Skills with Historical Housing

This activity about historic housing can be incorporated into any unit of study from the ancient world to colonial America. Continue reading “Teaching Geography and Visual Literacy Skills with Historical Housing”

Inquiry Activity – Health food trends: Are they good for you?

Health food trends: Are they good for you? This essential question is the focus of an interdisciplinary inquiry activity. Students compare modern food fads to historical examples, practicing critical analysis and media literacy skills as they investigate modern and historical food fad advertising and political cartoons. Continue reading “Inquiry Activity – Health food trends: Are they good for you?”

Quiz: History of Ancient Textiles & Needlework

Quiz: History of Ancient Textiles

The history of needlework and textiles is a story of women, trade & economics, and the cultural exchange of ideas and techniques. Test your knowledge of needlework, weaving, spinning, and textiles in the ancient world.

QUIZ: Strange and Mythical Beasts

Test your knowledge of strange and mythical beasts with this quiz.

Fancy Work: Needlework of the 1800s Quiz

Can you identify examples of 19th-century needlework? Often called "fancy work," all types of needlework were completed by women to decorate the home and adorn their clothing.

Beachgoers, Long Beach, California, c. 1910

Quiz: Vacation Destinations in the Past

Vacationing was for the rich until the 1800s when faster, cheaper transportation by canals and trains enabled more average people to get away from the daily routine. Test your knowledge of these historical vacation destinations.

Quiz: History of Scrapbooks

Test your knowledge of how people have organized personal information and memorabilia throughout history. What do you really know about the history of scrapbooking?

Every history teacher needs a costume closet!

Every history or social studies teacher (or professor) needs a closet of historical costumes. Dressing up as characters from the past or literature will make your lessons memorable and classes fun. Don’t limit your creativity to Halloween. Continue reading “Every history teacher needs a costume closet!”

Quiz: Historical Food Words

Technology has changed what we eat, how produce it, and how it is prepared. Test your knowledge of these historical food terms.

Quiz: History of Books and Printing

Test your knowledge of the history of printing with this quiz!

Quiz: 1960s Hit Songs

Top Hits of the 1960s

Choose the #1 hit song for each year of the1960s in this fun quiz. The choices for each year are from that year and all choices were in the top 50 songs according to Billboard Hot 100 Number One Singles

Are We There Yet? Quiz about Historical Travel

Are we there yet?

Test your knowledge of historical travel in times before railroads, cars, and airplanes.

On the beach at Coney Island, 1902 by Detroit Photographic Co. Detroit Photographic Co. On the beach at COn the beach at Coney Island, 1902 by Detroit Photographic Co.Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008678167/.

QUIZ: Vacations Now and in the Past

Test your knowledge of vacationing today and in the past!

Quiz: 1970s Hit Songs

Top Hits of the 1970s

Choose the #1 hit song for each year of the1970s in this fun quiz. The choices for each year are from that year and all choices were in the top 50 songs according to Billboard Year-End Hot Singles.

Quiz: What did a medieval peasant eat?

Imagine you are a medieval peasant living in Great Britain in the Late Middle Ages (c. 1300-1500). What would you eat?

Quiz: History of Women’s Fashion

Women have been creating clothing for themselves and others since the dawn of time. The Industrial Revolution radically changed this task beginning in the 1700s, making fashionable clothing more accessible to average women. Can you identify the correct decade of these American dresses?

Quiz: Historical Rules of Etiquette

Acceptable manners, or rules of etiquette, change over time. Test your knowledge of polite behavior in the past.

Quiz: Pandemics, Plagues & Outbreaks

Quiz: Pandemics & Plagues

Test your knowledge of historical pandemics, plagues, outbreaks, and infectious diseases.

Patent Medicine Trade Card: Oil of Gladness

Quiz: Can You Spot a Quack?

Quiz: Can you spot a Quack?

Ineffective or dangerous medical treatments are not just something from a distant past. Even in the age of scientific medicine, people use quack cures. Test your knowledge of modern quackery.

Quiz: What is in a mincemeat pie?

What is in a mincemeat pie?

Mincemeat pies have been a winter holiday tradition in Britain and America for hundreds of years. But what is really in mincemeat anyway? Take this quiz to find out!

Quiz: American Housing Styles

Quiz: Can You Identify American Housing Styles?

The Industrial Revolution changed American housing styles. Pre-industrial homes were smaller, with fewer rooms, and fewer furnishings. These early homes built from local materials featured vernacular styles suited to the climate. The Industrial Revolution provided standardized building materials, allowing for more ornate and complicated styles. Mass-produced house plans were used across the nation. Railroads transported materials and housing styles across the nation. Can you identify these American housing styles?