These lessons explore the many ways that art can provoke dialogue about the costs and consequences of significant events in U.S. and world history while simultaneously effecting social change and increasing awareness among individuals and governments.

Beginning-level activities address elementary school standards, intermediate activities address middle school standards, and advanced activities address high school standards. However, middle and high school teachers can use less advanced activities in warm-up discussions or to review basic principles.

Lessons 10-18 of 24

Flawed Democracies, Human Rights (Beginning Level)
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will analyze shapes and patterns in a photograph, hear stories about people who were forced to move to internment camps because of their ethnicity, and create drawings that tell a story about a young girl's life in an internment camp.

Flawed Democracies, Human Rights (Intermediate Level)
Grades/Level: Middle School (6–8)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will read primary source documents about the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and will examine various versions of a photograph by Dorothea Lange and explore how cropping can evoke different effects.

Flawed Democracies, Human Rights (Advanced Level)
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will create a timeline outlining various groups' struggles for equal opportunity and create a 30-second radio or video public service announcement (PSA).

Land Use and Lawmaking in California (Beginning Level)
Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Beginning-level students will compare and contrast different uses of land in the state of California and write a letter about a modern-day environmental issue.

Land Use and Lawmaking in California (Intermediate Level)
Grades/Level: Middle School (6–8)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will read writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson and discuss the principles of transcendentalism. They will then discuss a landscape photograph by Carleton Watkins and use pinhole cameras to create photographic essays depicting a modern-day environmental issue.

Land Use and Lawmaking in California (Advanced Level)
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Advanced-level students will examine photographs depicting suburban development; conduct independent research on land use; and design a plan for a utopian, environmentally-friendly housing development in their city.

The Many Different Sides of War (Beginning Level)
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will discuss the effects of war on families as depicted in a drawing and relief sculpture and re-create an artwork by forming a tableau and making a sculpture for a brave person.

The Many Different Sides of War (Intermediate Level)
Grades/Level: Middle School (6–8)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will compare and contrast artworks depicting different viewpoints about war and will write captions that describe works of art in different media. They will also manipulate the image depicted in a photograph of a war in recent history.

The Many Different Sides of War (Advanced Level)
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts, History—Social Science
Lesson Overview: Students will compare portrayals of individual soldiers to depictions of battle scenes, write two articles representing two different perspectives about a current war, and manipulate a photograph to alter its mood.

Lessons 10-18 of 24