Chronicling America is an amazing tool for bringing history to life in the classroom and at home, helping students and families explore primary sources and connect with the past in a meaningful, engaging way. Check out this video to learn how to use this great free online resource from the Library of Congress.
Create a community of engaged learners by asking students to do something radical: translate 200-year-old hot takes into modern PSAs. Students explore reform movements of the 19th century by analyzing primary source newspaper articles from “The Philanthropist,” an Ohio newspaper from 1818. They’ll identify key social reform issues including abolition, temperance, capital punishment, and religious charity, then create Public Service Announcements to demonstrate their understanding of how reformers mobilized for change during the Age of Reform.
The “Make a Constitution” activity transforms each of your students into a fledgling nation-state. Students begin by creating their own countries—complete with flags! Using interactive flowcharts, students make real choices about their government’s structure and craft their country’s constitution.
Students must then test their carefully crafted constitutions against real world scenarios. Can their constitutions survive early crises of government? There’s only one way to find out! Download the complete “Make a Constitution” activity and watch your students transform from middle school students into civic leaders.
LGBTQ+ history is a key part of Ohio’s story but is often underrepresented in scholarship and research. Ohio History Day and the Ohio History Connection are committed to sharing the colorful histories, viewpoints, and stories of the LGBTQ+ community. We invite you to join us in elevating the stories and history of the LBGTQ+ community in Ohio and beyond.
This outstanding resource from the National Afro-American Museum & Cultural Center can be used to prepare students for Ohio State Testing or any time of year as a complete lesson plan. It features special access to several NAAMCC exhibits. Students will practice historical thinking skills by analyzing primary and secondary source materials, synthesizing arguments and more.
Struggling with teaching controversial history? Not sure where to begin? Experience our new activity for 4th-12th grade students, the Star Armada Archivist Academy! Students learn how historians navigate difficult history by roleplaying as galactic explorers. Encounter sci-fi scenarios based on real-life situations taken from our historical work and learn how historians respond! In the end, your students must band together to solve a diplomatic crisis of cosmic proportions. Navigate the trials of historical work in a new and exciting way!
This lesson plan was written by Charlotte Stiverson, author of the book A Bird’s Eye View of the Hopewell. It will complement the reading of the book. Ms. Stiverson through 4th grade for 30 years, including Ohio history.
Travel with Owl and her friends as she uses her knowledge and observations to offer insights into how early Ohioans, known in today’s world as the Hopewell Culture, may have lived.
Explore the role played by African Americans in the Signal Corps and the growth and development of communication technologies and aviation!
This lesson plan was written by Paul LaRue. A retired thirty-year high school social studies teacher, Paul has received numerous state and national teaching awards. He serves as a member of the Ohio World War I Centennial Committee.
This resource guide helps teachers to use World War I source material from the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory in the classroom. The materials included in this resource guide engages students with the important ways Ohioans and others contributed to the national war effort during WWI.
This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Resources are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.
This resource guide helps teachers to use World War I source material from the World War I in Ohio Collection on Ohio Memory in the classroom. The materials included in this resource guide engages students with the soldier experience from enlistment and training to service overseas.
This resource was created by staff of the Ohio History Connection for Little Stories of the Great War: Ohioans in World War I, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Resources are provided for free and are available for non-commercial use and reuse with attribution to the Ohio History Connection.