learning ventures

Maps of North America Exploration and Settlement       Early maps of European exploration and settlement reveal much about what explorers and colonists knew about what eventually...

Who actually warned the countryside on April 18, 1775 that “the Regulars were coming?” Generations of school children heard, and in many cases memorized, Wadsworth’s Poem The...

Alum is a transparent mineral salt essential to the manufacturing of fast, vivid dyes. It is also used in glass-making and tanning of animal hides. Up until 1460 nearly all European supplies of alum...

In this activity students play the part of the Puritan General Court deciding on several cases of people in their tight-knit religious community who had allegedly broken the law and deserved to be...

This is the first lesson of four about American wars and the treaties that settled those conflicts. We tend to think of peace negotiations as taking place after the end of a war, but in most cases...

  This is the second lesson of four about American wars and the treaties that settled those conflicts. We tend to think of peace negotiations as taking place after the end of a war, but in most...

This is the fourth lesson of four about American wars and the treaties that settled those conflicts. We tend to think of peace negotiations as taking place after the end of a war, but in most cases...

Divisions based on religion, birthright, income, occupation, education, talent, and political power have always existed in societies. These divisions are referred to as social classes. One can...

  Making a book about Chicago is an activity that engages students in both process and content. Of all the large cities in the country in the 1920s, Chicago was the most open to doing something...

These two military commanders, one Confederate and the other Union, have been lauded and vilified for their actions during the American Civil War. However, both must now face the International...

Oliver Cromwell was a Puritan parliamentarian, a military commander and the driving force behind the English Civil War. He has been both lauded and vilified by many historians primarily for his...

The 14th century provides us with two opposing images: on the one hand a dazzling time of crusades and castles, cathedrals and chivalry and exquisitely illuminated books and tapestries; on the other...