American History - Connecting to the Past

These classroom activities were developed in collaboration between primary and secondary teachers, Ohio State University faculty and Ohio History Connection public historians. They were created during a professional development program called Connecting to the Past which was funded by the U.S. Department of Education Teaching American History grant. The lessons integrate a variety of primary sources that can be used in classrooms with various degrees of available technology.

 

There are a variety of activities here. Some will take an entire class period or more. Others are short exercises that can be easily integrated into existing lessons and provide teachers with the opportunity to illustrate history through the use of primary material.

 

All the activities promote historical inquiry and analysis and they are flexible so as to be helpful to a range of age and developmental groups. They can be used immediately by downloading or printing the material provided.