Wright Brothers National Memorial: Site of the First Controlled Powered Flight
Discover why the Wright Brothers chose the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct their flight experiments, how they achieved controlled powered flight in 1903, and how their accomplishments have been commemorated.

The Model T Road Trip: Lesson Plans
In this lesson, students conduct oral history interviews to collect, interpret and present reminiscences about the impact of the automobile on American life. 

The Invention Factory: Thomas Edison's Laboratories
Tour Edison's West Orange complex where his creative combination of research, production, and marketing revolutionized the business of invention.

The Life of George Westinghouse
In this mini-lesson students learn about one of our nation's business pioneers.  Specifically, students learn when in his life achievements were made, What were his special characteristics, and what lessons can we learn from his life and achievements? This site also provides additional links and a quiz.

Chicago's Black Metropolis: Understanding History Through a Historic Place
Examine the history of this "city-within-a-city," a self-supporting African-American community that prospered from the late 19th century until the 1930s.
 
Roadside Attractions
In this lesson, students will examine five examples of roadside architecture built in the 1920s and 1930s and designed to catch the eye of passing motorists.

Course Models: Harlem Renaissance
This site is part of the California History-Social Science content standards and annotated course and included: background information, focus questions, pupil activities and handouts, assessment, and references to books, articles, web sites, literature, audio-video programs, and historic site.

The New Era, 1921-1933: Multiple Choice Quiz, Fill-in-the-Blank, Flashcards, American History Glossary, American History Appendix
The Student Resources section of The American Nation companion web site features introductions to chapters, interactive quizzes, flashcards, web links, an American History Glossary, and an American History Appendix.

Jazz Talk
In this Discovery lesson plan students will analyze work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs in order to develop an appreciation for the origins of jazz music. They will also examine works of poetry from African American artists and create their own poems. After completing this activity, students should be able to describe the impact of African American songs and writings on American culture.

The four (4) lessons below are from the Library of Congress lesson plan collection. The unit is entitled Thank You, Mr. Edison: Electricity, Innovation, and Social Change. All or some of the lessons below may be incorporated into this standard:

Lesson 1: The Impact of Electricity On People's Lives
In this mini-lesson, students assess the impact of electricity on the lives of people.

Lesson 2: Edison's Role in the Electrification of America
In this mini-lesson, students analyze the role of Thomas Edison in the electrification of America and demonstrate an understanding of electrification as both a technological and social process.

Lesson 3: Merchandising and Advertising
In this mini-lesson, students analyze advertising and assess its significance as it relates to electrification and consumption. They also develop an understanding of the emergence of the mass-consumer economy.

Lesson 4: Women and the Mass Consumer Society
In this mini-lesson, students assess the impact of electricity on the lives of people, considering such factors as class and gender.

Postwar Society and Culture: Multiple Choice Quiz, Fill-in-the-Blank, Flashcards, American History Glossary, American History Appendix
The Student Resources section of The American Nation companion web site features introductions to chapters, interactive quizzes, flashcards, web links, an American History Glossary, and an American History Appendix.

Interpreting Primary Sources: Controversies of the 1920s
Digital History provides brief excerpts from primary sources and statistics and questions to think about.

"Between the Wars" Webpage
This site offers numerous links to the 1920s and 1930s.

Lindbergh (PBS)
A companion to the American Experience video series, this site has special features on the Spirit of St. Louis, the kidnapping of Lindbergh's son, a discussion of Lindbergh's hero status, a time line, maps, and a teacher's guide.

Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy 1921-1929
This Library of Congress site features materials from the 1920s that illustrate the prosperity of the Coolidge era, the nation's transition to a mass consumer economy, and the role of government in this transition.

Jazz Age Culture
This link will take you to the "Jazz Age Culture" site which offers many well-organized links on the following topics: Langston Hughes and other Harlem Renaissance writers, artists, musicians, and notables; F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and other modernist writers; Picasso, Dali, de Lempicka, Kandinsky, and other artists; resources on Prohibition, flappers, racial violence, sports, automobiles, aviators, art deco, movie stars, the Crash of '29, the scandals/trials of the decade, the new technologies; World War I Poetry.

Scopes Trial Home Page - UMKC School of Law
Featured "famous trial" in American history. In a Dayton, Tennessee courtroom in the summer of 1925 a jury was to decide the fate of John Scopes, a high school biology teacher charged with illegally teaching the theory of evolution. The meaning of the trial emerged through its interpretation as a conflict of social and intellectual values between "traditionalists" and "modernists."

Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro
This link will provide a hypertext article from the Survey Graphic. It was the monthly illustrated number of Survey magazine, the premier journal of social work in America in the 1920s. In November of 1924, the Survey's chief editor devoted a special issue devoted to the African American "Renaissance" underway in Harlem.

A list of Invention and Inventor Resources
These links were developed to provide upper elementary and middle school teachers with a set of resources for exploring inventors and inventions.

A-Z  Inventions and Inventors
This is an informative, "find it at your fingertips" webpage on inventions.

Inside an American Factory
Films of the Westinghouse Works, 1904.

American Memory
A gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. The site offers more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections.

Digital History
This site provides links to American history web sites by period and provide historical overviews, readings, primary source documents, maps, cartoons, teaching resources, and audio-visual resources.

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 MCPSS is not responsible for the content of links beyond the initial levels
  in this site and does not officially endorse any software or other products mentioned 
on the linked sites.