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Civil War
Inquiry Civil War Lesson Plans: High School
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Teacher Resources
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The following inquiry lesson plans have been created by educators, leading historians, and the American Battlefield Trust Education Department for classroom use in high school grades ten through twelve.
The High School Inquiry Civil War Curriculum is a set of eight standards-based lesson plans. Below are the inquiry curriculum lessons along with a selection of optional lessons, all of which fit within the Common Core and National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) standards for High School students.
Sections of the Inquiry Curriculum:
Pre-1860: Disunion
Students will be able to identify the causes of the American Civil War.
- Inquiry Curriculum Lesson Plan: Pre-1860: Disunion (High School)
Life at War
Students will be able to describe the day-to-day life of a Civil War soldier in the North and the South.
- Inquiry Curriculum Lesson Plan: Life at War (High School)
Homefront
Students will be able to discuss the importance of the contributions that members of society made on the home front to the respective war efforts.
- Inquiry Curriculum Lesson Plan: The Home Front (High School)
Antietam and Emancipation
Students will be able to describe the importance of the Battle of Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation, and their impacts on American society in the 1860s.
Turning Point1863
Students will be able to discuss the pivotal events which occurred in 1863.
- Inquiry Curriculum Lesson Plan: 1863 (High School)
Election of 1864
Students will be able to discuss the Northern election of 1864 and its impact on the Civil War.
- Inquiry Curriculum Lesson Plan: Election of 1864 (High School)
Surrender
Students will be able to discuss the Confederate surrender at Appomattox and the conclusion of the Civil War.
Reconstruction
Students will be able to discuss the effects of the Civil War, and what happens after the Civil War in the Reconstruction Era.
- Inquiry Curriculum Lesson Plan: Reconstruction (High School)
Optional Lesson Plans
- Transcribing Historic Documents
- Traveling Trunk Lesson Plans
- Civil War Photography Lesson Plan
- Antietam 360: Natural and Man-made Features Lesson Plan
- Gettysburg 360: Natural and Man-made Features Lesson Plan
- Medical Care in the Civil War (Coming Soon)
- Civil War Music (Coming Soon)
- The Battle of Antietam Field Trip Packet (Coming Soon)
- The Battle of Gettysburg Field Trip Packet (Coming Soon)
- Uncle Tom's Cabin Lesson Plan (Coming Soon)
- The Gettysburg Address Lesson Plan (Coming Soon)
Additional Resources
More Classroom Resources
See the entire Civil War unfold, from Fort Sumter...
The American Battlefield Trust's Field Trip Fund helps teachers plan and pay for Civil War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812 field trips.
Students from Jim Percoco and Brad Swain's Applied History classes at West Springfield High School take a field trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield that includes the use of our Gettysburg Battle App at Little Round Top and Devil's Den.
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