Back to School

To celebrate going back to school, Teaching with Historic Places highlights on the web the following lesson plans that consider important aspects of the history of education and educational facilities. Based on historical sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places, these lessons were created by National Park Service interpreters, preservation professionals, and educators. The lessons are free and ready for immediate classroom use by students in history and social studies classes.

• Brown v. Board: Five Communities That Changed America
Learn about the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

• Boston's Arnold Arboretum: A Place for Study and Recreation
Discover how the first arboretum in the United States became part of the burgeoning urban park movement in the second half of the 19th century.

• Carnegie Libraries: The Future Made Bright
Discover how and why industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie chose libraries to be among his greatest benefactions to the U.S., and assess the impact of libraries on American society.

• From Canterbury to Little Rock: The Struggle for Educational Equality for African Americans
Understand the magnitude of the struggle involved in securing equal educational opportunities for African Americans and examine how Prudence Crandall challenged the prevailing attitude toward educating African Americans in New England prior to the Civil War.

• The Freeman School: Building Prairie Communities
Examine this one-room school in Nebraska and consider the important role it played in the community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• Glen Echo Park: Center for Education and Recreation
Trace the evolution of this Maryland site from a chapter of the Chautauqua movement, to an amusement park, to a national park.

• Growing into Public Service: William Howard Taft's Boyhood Home
Visit the home of the only man to serve the country both as president and chief justice, and meet the rest of his public service-oriented family.

Iron Hill School: An African-American One-Room School
Discover how an early 20th-century philanthropist reformed Delaware's education system for African-American children.

• New Kent School and the George W. Watkins School: From Freedom of Choice to Integration
Learn about the U.S. Supreme Court case that forced the integration of public schools and meet the individuals who experienced segregation, fought to dismantle the institution, and integrated the public school system of New Kent County, Virginia.

• Thomas Jefferson's Plan for the University of Virginia: Lessons from the Lawn
Learn about the multifaceted intellect of Thomas Jefferson and how he fused his abilities as an architect, educational and political theorist, and politician to create a revolutionary new setting for higher education in the new American republic.

• The United States Air Force Academy: Founding a Proud Tradition
Learn how the expansion of military air power in the first half of the 20th century led to the establishment of the United States Air Force and the Air Force Academy.

 
To learn more about TwHP's other lessons, visit the Lesson Plan Descriptions page.