Back to Standards Index: National Council for the Social Studies C3 Framework
Standards Index: D2.His.1.9-12.
Find lessons and videos that align with standards
Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.

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The End of the Cold War: Nuclear Winter
Students will learn how a scientific theory of “nuclear winter” shifted the debate over nuclear weapons in the 1980s, and how that hypothesis connects to the 21st century challenge of climate change.

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Brown v. Board of Ed and Busing Promised Integration. Why Are Schools Still Segregated?
Students will learn why much of the school integration achieved through cross-town busing has unraveled over the last few decades.

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The War on Terror and the Debate Over Torture
Students will learn about the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, focusing on the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and the ensuing calls for accountability.

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The Space Race: The Challenger Tragedy
Students will learn about the development of the nation’s space program, including a seminal event during Ronald Reagan’s presidency: the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and its lasting aftermath.

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Conspiracy Theories: From JFK’s Assassination to Today
Students will learn about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, including surrounding conspiracy theories, to explore the deeply ingrained American tendency to mistrust government – a characteristic of our national political culture that is as old as the Revolution.

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The Cold War and the Nuclear Weapons Threat
Students will learn about the Cold War-era nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, and its connection to the threat of nuclear conflict today.

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Reagan: Foreign Policy and a Story from Central America (El Salvador)
Students will learn how President Reagan’s administration, trying to stop Soviet communist influence around the world, supported authoritarian regimes, and the impact that had in El Salvador and in the U.S. then and now.

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How the Military Response to 9/11 Led to Two Decades of War in Afghanistan
Students will learn how the U.S. military response to the 9/11 attacks led to decades of war and a chaotic ending."

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Aftermath of the War on Terror
Students will learn how the climate of fear and panic following the 9/11 attacks resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of innocent Arab immigrants.

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How Watergate and Citizens United Shaped Campaign Finance Law
Students will learn how the Watergate break-in changed the way political campaigns were funded, and what that means for today.

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The Civil Rights Movement: Black Power and Sports
Students will learn about protests in the 1960s among black athletes including Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali and members of the 1968 U.S. Olympics team, and how their actions relate to modern protestors like Colin Kaepernick.

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Ecology: The Yellowstone Wildfires of 1988
Students will learn how the Yellowstone fires of 1988 created a national controversy that challenged long-held assumptions about the role that fires should play in forestry policy.

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1912 Republican Convention: TR Starts the Bull Moose Party
Students will learn how former President Theodore Roosevelt used the newly created direct primary system to challenge incumbent President William Howard Taft for the Republican Party’s nomination in 1912.

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Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics
Students will learn lessons from history for dealing with the coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic by understanding the connections to previous global public health campaigns to eradicate smallpox and polio.

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The Clinton Presidency: “Zero Tolerance”
Students will learn the social and political forces that led schools to adopt “zero tolerance” discipline policies in the 1980s and 1990s, and the racially unequal consequences of these policies today.

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Transgender Rights, Won Over Decades, Face New Restrictions
Students will learn about historical and contemporary demands for equality by transgender people.

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Protests For Racial Justice: A Long History
Students will learn how current protests against police violence and racial inequality are connected to the past, and about the White House commission that released a report in the aftermath of the major urban disorders of 1967.

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9/11 Heroes: Surviving the Biggest Attack on U.S. Soil
Students will learn about Sept. 11, 2001, and specifically about the experience of some of the more than 2,000 New York City emergency workers who sped toward lower Manhattan.

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Vietnam War: Agent Orange
Students will learn why the U.S. military decided to spray a defoliant chemical called Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, and the lingering effects of that decision decades later.

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Watts Uprising and the Militarization of Policing
Students will learn how racial discontent in the 1960s led to the creation of the nation’s first SWAT team, how the War on Drugs of the 1980s caused SWAT teams to be repurposed for drug raids, and how, in recent years, the SWAT approach to policing has fueled a nationwide trend: the militarization of local police departments.

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Arms Race and Nuclear Weapons: Cold War to Today
Students will learn about the Cold War-era nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, and how it connects to the likelihood of nuclear conflict today.

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Election of 1860: Slavery Splits the Democrats
Students will learn how the issue of slavery caused a split in the Democratic Party that led to the Civil War and paved the way for 50 years of Republican dominance in national politics.

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Extremism, ISIS and the Doomsday Cults of the 1970s
Students will learn how the wave of extreme cults that swept the U.S. in the 1970s holds surprising lessons for confronting 21st century international terrorism.

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Jimmy Carter and the Rise of Evangelical Voters
Students will learn how the cultural and political trends of the 1960s and 1970s led to heightened political engagement among evangelical Christians and the emergence of a powerful new conservative movement.