These curriculum materials include lesson plans for grades 2 through 12, a discussion guide, and a classroom poster that will help students learn about Native American culture, traditions, and history. The lesson plans are aligned to the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Thematic Strands cover a variety of topics, such as examining culture, defining the word “warrior,” Navajo Code Talkers, honoring soldiers, and warrior women.

Climate scientists project that future climate conditions will result in increased risk of wildfire across much of the Southwest. Although fires are a natural part of Southern California landscapes, efforts by SDG&E and their partners may help minimize the impacts of future fires.

Just south of Atlanta’s busy Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Clayton County seems like an obvious place for metropolitan growth. But more homes and businesses mean a higher demand on the county’s limited water supplies.

Property owners in New Jersey can check their vulnerability to sea level rise and storm surge using an interactive mapping tool—the NJ Flood Mapper. Here's how one restaurant owner used results from the tool in his long-term planning.

The War for American independence began well for patriots in the South. In the city of Charles Town, South Carolina (known as “Charleston” after the war)—an unfinished palmetto fort remarkably withstood the cannon balls of the British fleet in 1776. Men like William Moultrie, Francis Marion, William Jasper, and others became Revolutionary War heroes.

Individuals and groups from western and West Virginia have been active in the military from the early settlement of the area through present day. Each of the 11 video excerpts in this gallery examines the role played by those individuals and groups in specific military actions. Click the link on the image or use the up/down arrows on the right to access each episode.

Benjamin Franklin is often described as a “self-made” man. It is one of the main reasons he is considered quintessentially American, along with his sense of humor and affinity towards innovation. The ability to acquire new knowledge, transform as an individual, and create opportunities for oneself are all deeply rooted elements of American culture and folklore. Though no doubt an extraordinary person, was Franklin truly self-made? This lesson asks students to question the concept of a self-made person in the form of a Structured Academic Controversy (SAC). Students will explore Franklin’s life story alongside the story of his contemporary Benjamin Banneker, a Black inventor, mathematician, and astronomer from Baltimore, Maryland. Both Benjamins are often described as self-made and both were highly accomplished scientists, writers, and inventors.

Explore innovations in communication technology during the Civil War and how they impacted the news media, in this video from The Good Stuff: Time Capsule. Using discussion questions and teaching tips, students will learn about how the telegram changed the way news was reported and compare it to our own social media revolution.

William Henry Harrison didn't accomplish much as President, lasting only 32 days in office. But check out how he got there, from his early days in the military to the Log Cabin Campaign.

After most of the city was flattened by a tornado, Joplin, Missouri’s Mercy Hospital built a new facility, incorporating features to reinforce its resistance to wind.

Prominent abolitionists gathered at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840 but forbade female contributions and kept women behind a curtain. This event gave Elizabeth Cady Stanton the opportunity to meet Lucretia Mott, and ignited Stanton’s activism for women’s rights.

We hear a lot about the “women’s vote” these days, although most young people take universal suffrage for granted and the fight for women’s right to vote is usually given scant attention in the classroom. Since the late 20th century, women have constituted the majority of the voting public. The number of female voters has exceeded the number of male voters in every presidential election since 1964. In this module we offer resources, information and ideas for examining the role of women in politics as voters and the history of their increased participation in the political sphere.

The goal of this module is to provide resources and information about the history of the women’s vote in the U.S. Looking at the women’s suffrage movement provides a framework for exploring the changing role of women in politics and society in the 19th and 20th centuries. The history of suffrage offers an opportunity to examine women’s roles at critical points in the nation’s history, and to think about the impact of women’s voting behavior on politics in our time.

Samuel Worcester, a non-native missionary, arrived in New Echota to spread Christianity and help set up a printing operation for the Cherokee Nation. The state of Georgia passed a law, however, stating that outsiders had to receive a permit in order to live within the Cherokee Nation. When Worcester was arrested along with 11 other missionaries in 1831 for violating this law, he and others appealed their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was a sovereign nation, President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce that judicial ruling.

Learn about work-based courses: credit-bearing community college courses redesigned in partnership with employers so that competencies are taught both in the classroom or lab and on the job. This collection of videos from Jobs for the Future (JFF) examines the major stages of program design and implementation and explains how each stakeholder—including colleges, manufacturing employers, and incumbent workers—benefits. Support materials offer active viewing questions and targeted links to a toolkit that contains guidance for those interested in implementing work-based courses in their college or workplace.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Con Edison examined the future vulnerability of electrical infrastructure. Based on the results, they took action to increase their resilience.

Learn about the low point in the American Revolution just before the Yorktown Campaign, which triggered the events that allowed the Colonial Army to win the war.

As a child, Frederick Douglass was relocated from a plantation on the eastern shore of Maryland to Baltimore. There he learned how to read and write—first from the wife of his master and then from poor, local immigrant children. The two books he read were the Bible and The Columbian Orator. This clip explores Douglass’ determination and resourcefulness in his early years to gain literacy skills, and how this new knowledge opened his eyes to a life beyond slavery.

Students and community residents of four remote Alaskan villages measure environmental data to identify their climate vulnerabilities.