The 2008 Summer Teachers Conference focused on the year 1948. Lesson plans created by teachers attending the conference and powerpoint presentations delivered by speakers are presented on this site.

Agha Ibrahim Akram was a lieutenant general who served in the Pakistan Army during the 1965 and 1971 wars with India. In this video segment, Akram recalls 1974 as the watershed year when India detonated a nuclear explosive and took one step toward becoming a nuclear power in hopes of enhancing its global status. That moment also coincided with skyrocketing oil prices, which stiffened Pakistan's resolve to develop nuclear energy for electricity and, if need be, weapons. The interview Akram conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'The Haves and Have-Nots' concentrates on the history of tension and conflict between Pakistan and India. He reviews the three wars: the devastating bloodshed that followed partition in 1947, the pride he felt in 1965 as chief of staff of an infantry division along the West Pakistan border, and his bitterness toward India over the Bangladesh war in 1971. Despite the persistence of tension between Pakistan and India, Akram recognizes circumstances in which their perspectives and geopolitical positions meet. For instance, he fully supports India's critique of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: that the major nuclear powers only selectively enforce and adhere to its provisions. He wishes that South Asia could be a nuclear-weapons-free zone but is willing to settle for India and Pakistan's interdependence: 'The two countries are the protagonists of South Asia. We'll actually cross the threshold together or not cross it at all.'

This Web site, created to complement an AMNH exhibition, looks at a rare find from the fourth millennium BCE, which was discovered in 1993 near Jericho.

This is a collection of downloadable video clips on the theme of Conflict, with guiding questions for students. Clips are drawn from the following PBS WIDE ANGLE documentaries: "Greetings from Grozny" (2002), "Ladies First" (2004), "Suicide Bombers" (2004).

The Middle East conflict and terrorism are issues we hear about almost daily in the news. This lesson will use video clips from WIDE ANGLE's 'Suicide Bombers' (2004), Internet sites, and primary sources to examine the roots of the Middle East conflict. The video contains interviews with young Palestinians who participated -- or intended to participate -- in suicide bombings. These young Palestinians share the personal, religious, political and emotional reasons behind their participation in these suicide operations. This lesson could be used to review information about the three major monotheistic religions and their connections to Israel, to relate post-World War II policies to the current political state of the Middle East, and/or to get students to understand the roots of the terrorism that threatens the world we live in.

This is a collection of downloadable video clips on the theme of Factors of Production, with guiding questions for students. Clips are drawn from the following PBS WIDE ANGLE documentaries: "To Have and Have Not" (2002), "Pickles, Inc." (2005), "1-800-INDIA" (2005), "Border Jumpers" (2005).

SPARK visits the ensemble of the Traveling Jewish Theatre in a bold and moving play about the Middle East conflict called Blood Relative. This Educator Guide addresses collaborative theatre, political theatre, and the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Micromorphology samples from Mousterian, Kebaran, Natufian, and Byzantine contexts at Hayonim, Israel. This cave site has important evidence about prehistoric human occupation in the Levant. Its sequence helps document major transitions in the region, including human origins and the origins of agriculture.

The course provides the students a basic understanding of modern Israeli history, politics, culture and identity through lectures, discussions and projects. Among the topics to be explored are: ideational, institutional and material foundations of the state of Israel; Israeli national identity, Israeli society, economy, and foreign and security policies.

This Wide Angle video features Majdi Amer, a 25-year-old Palestinian, who describes the daily state of violence and conflict in Israel and the occupied territories.

The roughly 400 years between the writings of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) are marked by political and religious changes which provide the formative context for the writings of the New Testament.

" This course will expose students to tools and methods of analysis for use in assessing the challenges and dangers associated with nuclear weapons in international politics. The first two weeks of the course will look at the technology and design of nuclear weapons and their means of production. The next five weeks will look at the role they played in the Cold War, the organizations that managed them, the technologies that were developed to deliver them, and the methods used to analyze nuclear force structures and model nuclear exchanges. The last six weeks of the course will look at theories and cases of nuclear decision making beyond the original five weapon states, and will look particularly at why states pursue or forego nuclear weapons, the role that individuals and institutions play, and the potential for both new sources of proliferation and new consequences."

This course focuses on evolution of contemporary politics and economics. Subject divided into four parts: (a) Context: historical and strategic perspectives, theoretical issues, and sources and forms of conflict; (b) Continuity: detailed analysis conflicts systems and their persistence, as well as regional competition and recent wars -- focusing on specific countries and cases; (c) Complexity: highlighting situation specific strategic gains and losses; and (d) Convergence: focusing future configurations of conflict and cooperation. Throughout the course, special attention is given to sources and transformations of power, population dynamics and migration, resources and energy, as well as implications of technological change.

This is a lesson plan on the history, conflicts, and U.S. involvement surrounding Israel before and after its proclamation of statehood. This lesson correlates to the National History Standards and the National Standards for Social Sciences. It also has cross-curricular connections with history, government, geography, and language arts.