In this activity, students watch a short clip from the ASHP documentary 1877: The Grand Army of Starvationto learn about the impact of railroad expansion on Americans and the nation as a whole. After watching the clip, students complete the “Technological Turning Points and their Impact” worksheet in order to examine the positive and negative effects of the railroad.

In this activity, students watch short clips of the ASHP documentary Daughters of Free Mento learn about the experiences of Lowell mill girls in the 1830s. Students follow the life of Lucy, a young girl working in Lowell in 1836. After each clip, students reflect on what they have just learned and predict what Lucy will do next.

In this activity students analyze the reasons why the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted so long and was successful. Students watch a short clip from the PBS documentary Eyes on the Prizeabout the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Then students analyze primary sources to determine who participated in the boycott, who organized it, and what challenges boycott supporters faced. The teacher will need access to the filmEyes on the Prize, which is widely available in school and public libraries.

In this activity, students watch the documentary Heaven Will Protect the Working Girlin sections, with documents and exercises designed to support and reinforce the film's key concepts: workers challenging the effects of industrial capitalism, the impact on immigrant families of young women earning money in the garment industry, and the methods used by women to improve working conditions in factories during the Progressive Era.

This activity is designed to help students understand key ideas from the documentary film Savage Acts: Wars, Fairs, and Empire 1898-1904. The film is divided into short segments with suggested viewing strategies and questions to keep students focused.

In this activity, students examine three documents to better understand the goals, participants, and leaders of the 1963 March on Washington.

These questions are intended to be discussed in small groups in the classroom. They consider the definition and impact of the African Diaspora as well as its similarities and differences in relation to other diasporas. 

SETUPS (Empirical Teaching Unites in Political Science) data, published by the American Political Science Association, will be employed in group data analysis projects in an American Government class. Students then use results from these reports in composing an essay question on the course's final exam.

Students conducted data analysis about American political divisions and created two papers from this data analysis. Sutdents were assigned to group projects involving data analysis assigned chapters in MICROCASE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, a textbook that includes access to a variety of datasets.

In this jigsaw-method activity on subduction zone volcanism, students apply lessons learned from four historic eruptions to the volcanic hazards associated with Mt. Rainier in the Pacific Northwest.

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In this activity students analyze Kipling's famous poem about imperialism and read several poems that were written in response to it. Students discuss how effective the poems are as art, political commentary, and historical evidence.

The Authenticity and Agency rubrics are based on elements from two frameworks: Student as Producer and Social Pedagogies. The rubrics were created for instructors and instructional designers to use as they develop authentic learning experiences in the course design process.

Small groups of students examine a candle to consider its chemical properties. Class discussion follows to consider macro vs. molecular events, energy, phase changes, etc.

Compiled and modified for instructional use by: Kate Darby, Western Washington University
In 1887, Robert Towne built a metals smelter two and a half miles northwest of El Paso, Texas, across the river from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico and across the state border from several small towns in New Mexico. The smelter, which processed metal ore from regional mines, was quickly acquired by ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company) and became an important visual and economic institution in the region. In 1967, following the mantra of environmental regulation at the time—"the solution to pollution is dilution"—ASARCO erected what was then the tallest smokestack in the world: an 828-foot structure visible from much of the region. While the facility provided jobs to many in the region and produced metals important for a range of manufacturing and consumer products, by the 1970s, residents and scientists began to question the other products from the smelter—especially heavy metals pollution.

This case study includes discussion questions and data sources for further information.

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Compiled and modified for instructional use by: Lisa Phillips, Illinois State University, llphill@ilstu.edu
On September 10, 2012, several million southern California residents reacted with alarm to an unfamiliar noxious scent. The Air Quality Management District officials in the Los Angeles region were initially at a loss to determine the odor's source. Investigators from Ventura to Palm Springs looked for toxic spills, sewage plant leaks, and gas line breaks—all for naught.

The smell's origin was the Salton Sea more than 150 miles away and not usually upwind. The smell of an algal bloom and subsequent massive fish kill released odor molecules redolent with the stench of environmental decay.

This case study includes discussion questions and data sources for further information.

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This case study is an examination of the chemical and sensory impacts of a variety of environmental issues including sand mining, leaking underground gasoline storage tanks (LUSTs), and a railroad.

Wedron is a small, unincorporated town of approximately 100 residents in north central Illinois. A large sand mine has been in operation on the south and west sides of the town for many decades, and the mine property includes several abandoned and active pits, a processing plant, and a train car loading facility. Railroad tracks are located along the east side of town as is a grain elevator (storage and loading facility).

The following information was obtained from the US EPA web site about Wedron, personal visits to the town, and published news articles.

This case study includes discussion questions and data sources for further information.

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A case-study approach can be used to introduce students to the work that geologists do as environmental consultants. Data used by environmental consultants for a Brownfield site that is currently undergoing redevelopment in St. Paul, MN has been adapted for in-class study, either as a series of short exercises, or as part of a larger project.

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In this activity students will learn about how groups without political power—African Americans, women, and working-class men—sought to expand their political power in the Revolutionary era. Students will analyze primary sources to determine the methods by which non-voting groups made their claims on being part of "We the People".

This is a scaffolded group/collaborative activity within a unit of study on persuasive writing. Students would have already learned what claims, reasons, and evidence are in a previous lesson before participating in this activity. As a group of 4-5 students work together, they will decide which resources would be best to survive a zombie apocalypse. They would then need to compose statements of claim and reasoning for those items and complete some research as well. There is an option to allow students to create posters to present to the class as their final assignment. 

Students evaluate coal leases to determine their potential for coal mining. Each company, student group, has three leases and an exploration budget. Students design and implement an exploratory drilling program on each lease and collect partial borehole cores. Using the resultant data, each company creates geologic cross-sections for each lease as well as structural contour maps. Based on their geologic models, they recommend, in oral and written reports, on which, if any, of these leases the company should pursue and how the extractable coal seams might be recovered.

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