I would bring in transistors from all sorts of electronics, having students analyze the differences. They would have a compare/contrast chart. I would love for them to see the old transistors and see them in the old radios and how they are different from ones in IPODS and other music players. The could see the differences in technologies.

I'd like to have students research ads during all major wartimes/epidemics and see them find the target audiences. I want them to see how the advertisers build on morale, patriotism, and support of the cause vs everyday living. I would want them to see the link between the event and the advertisers. I believe that they will see the common connections of what happens when there is an outbreak of a flu virus and what amps up in terms of advertising. An example would be disinfectants, medicines, local drugstore ads when something like the Swine flu outbreak or during the Cold War bomb shelter manufacturing ads. The advertisers know where to target and who to target and students would find a time period and research ads for that specific time period and find the audience.

I have always found it interesting to see the changes in the way that fighting has occurred in fighting over time. From the formal fighting in the Revolutionary War to the more strategic fighting in the Civil War to the guerrilla warfare in the Vietnam War, the students need to see how wartime has evolved over the years. The students need to see that the Revolutionary War was the start of the colonists beginning to understand that although they were so willing to drop their ancestral roots, there were benefits to learning from their "parents". I want the students to be able to see that based on the fighting and the losses and wins, they had learned something from them. Students in this module will work on comparisons of the battle from the British vs. the colonist's side. I want them to be able to see how they started to go from ragtag fighters to an organized army. I want them to learn how leadership changed them, but also how they were able to gain ideas form the British and incorporate them into their fighting.

Let's think about the harsh realities for the immigrants coming to the new nation. I would like to explore the poem to which the Statue of Liberty is associated, The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" and have students identify parts of the immigration process that are either true or false using the poem as their guide. Can they find primary sources that show a picture of the "the tired, the poor, the huddled masses" on their way to Ellis Island on a boat? Can they identify that ethnic population? Can they follow that population into Ellis Island and identify whether they were allowed in or what happened to their status once they reached the island? I beelvie this will have more of an impact on them then just reading from a textbook.

I would give students houses to build. Some houses would have materials such as glue, others would have nothing other than the sticks to build them with. I would have the students build the houses and then we would like at the materials that they had to work with. Did faster construction mean better construction? Did easier construction mean better construction? Did construction that went up slower such as stone and mortar last longer than construction that came in kits. I want students to know that although some ways took longer, it does mean that some sacrifices in quality had to be made. We would test our theories in construction by subjecting them to a series of tests using fans for wind, squirt bottles for water.

I would like to do a Factory Activity with the kids. They would have to pick their role: boss, manager, worker, child, woman. Each role has its limitations. The point of the game is staple papers that are 5 in a packet. The assembly line would be consisted of whoever the workers were and they would be given a candle to work by. The candle would be electric. The boss would have certain directives he would such as the workers have to produce 15 packets ion 10 minutes. The manager would tell the workers that they had to put one arm behind their back because they lost it in an accident. Now that person would have to put one arm behind their back. It would show how difficult it would be to continue with a workplace injury. The students would have all sorts of different scenarios and see the obstacles that workers were presented with.

I would like to a comparison of dress from the start of the colonies to where we are today. I think it would be such an interesting comparison and contrast to see what has changed over the decades and how the politics of the time definitely influenced the clothing,

I would have students explore the paths of the spreading of the mail system from its first introduction of the Pony Express to the carriers of the wagon train and railroads. I think students would be very interested to see how the spread of ideas and information took so long to get to one place from another as compared to today. I would like for them to see how information changed from receiving it days to weeks vs. instantly. Could there have been prevented in the Civil war if there had been instant communications? I would like for them to participate in a prediction activity.