middle school history research project

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Water and Environmental Racism

Teaching activity. by matt reed and ursula wolfe-rocca. rethinking schools. a mixer activity, inspired by the 2016 democracy now documentary thirsty for democracy , introduces students to the struggle of residents to access safe water for drinking, cooking, and bathing in the majority-black cities of flint, michigan; jackson, mississippi; and newark, new jersey..

How We Remember: The Struggle Over Slavery in Public Spaces

Teaching activity. by bill bigelow, jesse hagopian, cierra kaler-jones, ana rosado, and ursula wolfe-rocca. students read about sites of memory in how the word is passed and imagine how to commemorate what occurred there. they then compare that to how the respective site is currently commemorated and described by docents..

Subversives: Stories from the Red Scare

Teaching activity. by ursula wolfe-rocca. in this mixer lesson, students meet 27 different targets of government harassment and repression to analyze why disparate individuals might have become targets of the same campaign, determining what kind of threat they posed in the view of the u.s. government..

Repair: Students Design a Reparations Bill

Teaching activity. by ursula wolfe-rocca. in this activity, students take on the role of activist-experts to improve upon a congressional bill for reparations for black people. they talk back to congress’ flimsy legislation and design a more robust alternative..

The Rebellious Lives of Mrs. Rosa Parks

Teaching activity. by bill bigelow. in this mixer lesson, students learn about rosa parks’ many decades of activism by taking on roles from various times in her life. in this way, students learn about her radicalism before, during, and long after the montgomery bus boycott..

Deportations on Trial: Mexican Americans During the Great Depression

Teaching activity. by ursula wolfe-rocca. in this role play students analyze who is to blame for the illegal, mass deportations of mexican americans and immigrants during the great depression..

Teaching SNCC: The Organization at the Heart of the Civil Rights Revolution

Teaching activity. by adam sanchez. rethinking schools. 24 pages. a series of role plays that explore the history and evolution of the student nonviolent coordinating committee, including freedom rides and voter registration..

When the Impossible Suddenly Became Possible: A Reconstruction Mixer

Teaching activity. by adam sanchez and nqobile mthethwa. 25 pages. a mixer role play explores the connections between different social movements during reconstruction..

The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn ’s best-selling book A People’s History of the United States , the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme , time period , and reading level.

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What Our Students Should Know About the Struggle for the Ballot — but Won’t Learn from Their Textbooks

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

March 31, 1944: Frank S. Emi Interrogated...

Teaching about the violence in palestine and israel..., teach truth day of action 2024..., why teach people's history.

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don’t BELIEVE in it. It’s not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don’t need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

—howard zinn.

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Big History Project

Course: big history project   >   unit 8.

• ACTIVITY: World Travelers
• WATCH: Why Early Globalization Matters
• READ: China — The First Great Divergence
• READ: An Age of Adventure
• ACTIVITY: An Age of Adventure
• READ: Ibn Battuta
• READ: Marco Polo
• READ: Zheng He

ACTIVITY: Explorers Mini Project

• WATCH: Brain Boost - H2
• READ: The Lion of the Sea — Ahmad Ibn Mājid
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• Quiz: Exploration & Interconnection

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Mrs. Nelson Teaches

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Black History Month Research Project

If ever there was a time to celebrate Black History Month in our classrooms, it is now! This Black History Month Research Project is the perfect activity for middle school students! By researching an influential African American, students will not only learn invaluable research skills but will also engage in thoughtful discussions about current events!

Research Best Practices

When I teach this unit in my classroom, I spend approximately two and a half weeks. I spend the first few days teaching basic research skills. This helps set students up for research success! We don’t want students to waste their precious researching time because they aren’t equipped with the right tools! Several Slides presentations included in my TpT product discuss types of resources, evaluating sources for credibility and bias. I believe that it is imperative that students know how to find credible, balanced sources– especially in today’s world when so many “news sources” overtly express their bias and opinion masquerades as fact! I’ve always felt strongly about teaching students to use primary sources and think for themselves, but this issue feels even more important to me now due the current political climate. Teachers are in a prime position to help stop the spread of misinformation!

We also spend time talking about how to find sources through an internet search. My Slides presentations help students learn the most effective ways to find the information they are seeking. We also discuss Wikipedia [teacher eyeroll]. While I try to make it abundantly clear that Wikipedia cannot be used as a “source,” I do show students one way that Wikipedia can be used to find other credible sources.

Once students have a base understanding of research best practices, they will spend time researching their individuals. I’ve included some note-taking graphic organizes for students in the product. These graphic organizers help students organize their information while they are researching.

Drafting and Revision

Students will then create an essay outline and begin the drafting process. I’ve included some teacher models to help students see exactly what is expected of them for this assignment. Another great teaching tactic is to actually draft a paper of your own live for students. With your projector running, simply demonstrate how one takes the gathered information and creates something new with it!

Following a peer edit, students revise and complete their final essay! I find it is also helpful to do a live peer edit and revision to model for students how to make it an effective use of time instead of an exercise in futility. Too often, students breeze through the editing process and, instead of revising their essay, simply rewrite their first draft. Definitely not the result we want. Modeling this live is a great way to get better results from students!

Black History Month Posters & Presentations

Once their essays are finished, the fun part begins! Students will create a poster to serve as a visual representation of their individual. I require my students to have 7-10 bullet points highlighting the most important and most interesting facts about their individual and at least two pictures. They can design and decorate their poster any way they choose.

The students always have fun with this creative portion of the project. I love to have a few low-key days where students can use the creative side of their brains after the hard work of researching and writing! Sometimes, we will put on some school-appropriate music to make it really enjoyable! [Side bar: A great and free way to reward great behavior is to allow well-behaved students the opportunity to choose a song they like on days like this!]

After students have had enough time to finish their posters, the presentations can begin! I love, love, love doing class presentations! Public speaking is such an important skill to have–even (maybe especially) for students who tend to be more reserved and timid in regular class discussions. Before we begin, I like to model both a great oral presentation and a poor oral presentation. I usually begin with the poor oral presentation. It’s fun to step out of the classroom and throw some grubby clothes on over my regular work clothes and skulk in and very poorly and very briefly talk about my individual slumping into poor posture while waving my poster around so no one can see it and other antics I’m sure all teachers have seen many times. My students always seem to get a kick out of it!

I then juxtapose that with a proper oral presentation: well-dressed (although I don’t like to make a big deal out of this one so that no student feels uncomfortable about their clothes), good posture, making eye contact, speaking clearly, etc. Like always, students do better when they have sometime to model!

Black History Month Hallway Decorations

When the students have all presented their posters, I love to hang them up in the hallways! It’s fun to see all students stop and read about the countless African Americans that have broken barriers and made a difference in the world! I am always inspired by this Black History Month project and I hope you and your students will be too!

How do you like to celebrate Black History Month with your students?

Brenna (Mrs. Nelson)

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A Crafting Project to Boost Engagement in History

Having middle or high school students do historical research and show their learning on a 3D representation can spark deep interest.

As a high school history teacher, I often had difficulty getting my students immersed in and excited about our topics of study, but over time I developed a hands-on activity in which students created a learning product that they could keep and display. This was a simple yet powerful learning tool that my students loved working on.

Lecturing was not working well for me or my students—they needed to be more engaged in their learning. One day, as I was looking at the state social studies standards for World War II and wondering what I could do differently. I noticed that there were 12 topics or ideas listed. My first thought was to have my students make a hanging mobile using a hanger, yarn, and note cards, but when I had tried this before students just threw them in the trash as they left the room—they liked doing something different but didn’t care for mobiles. Then I thought of trying a 3D geometric display to capture each of the 12 topics in the standards.

A dodecahedron has 12 sides, so I had my students cut out and build dodecahedrons. If you’re doing a short unit or if 12 topics aren’t needed, you can do this with pyramids or cubes using triangles or squares. For this exercise, each student will need 12 of these template sheets . Plain copy paper will work, but cardstock will make the dodecahedron sturdier and longer lasting. Additionally, students will need crayons and or markers, scissors, and tape or a stapler.

Beginning the Dodecahedron Project

Since I started this strategy decades ago, state standards have slightly changed and indicators are more detailed, so now, instead of assigning the 12 topics, I allow my students to choose 12 topics from an extensive list we develop as a class. When I taught high school, after I introduced a unit such as World War II, I would have students brainstorm related topics, ideas, and events. With my guidance, they might list topics such as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Axis and Allied powers, totalitarianism, isolationism, Japanese internment, battles, the Holocaust, victory gardens, etc., and I would write them on the board.

At the end of the brainstorming session, we might have up to 20 topics, ideas, or events listed. We would discuss them, and I would add any topics of importance in the state standards that we hadn’t listed. Each student was then allowed to pick 12 topics they wanted to learn more about.

Depending on the amount of time you have for a unit, students can do the work in class or at home. My history units generally took one to two weeks, and for the most part my students would work on this project in class. Once they had their topics, I would give them each 12 template sheets, one for each topic.

With template sheets in hand, students would start researching their topics. To prepare for the research, I would ask the media specialist to pull World War II content books, materials, and encyclopedias and put them on a cart for a rolling library; you can also have students do research online, to help them learn how to vet materials.

To help students stay on track during independent research, I had them complete one information sheet for each topic . I didn’t give a grade for completing this page, but I could walk around the room and quickly see what students were finding and learning. During this research time, students could sit on the floor, use a standing desk, or work at the classroom tables. Small freedoms like this, combined with the chance to make choices about their topics of study, helped make this experience enjoyable.

Once students had finished researching a topic and filling in the research information, they would get a template sheet and write a summary and illustrate the topic with a drawing. Because the writing space was limited, they weren’t overwhelmed as they sometimes were when writing a long paper. Their summaries had to be concise but still include details and examples to demonstrate their comprehension of the topic. I emphasized writing with purpose and clarity.

After my students had completed all 12 sheets, it was time to assemble their dodecahedrons. First they cut out the circle of each template and then folded along the dotted lines and used tape or a stapler to attach each side. When each dodecahedron was assembled, it looked a bit like a soccer ball.

Presenting the Dodecahedrons

Next, I had students present their dodecahedrons to the class. I gave each student four minutes to explain and show four or five sides of their dodecahedron. After each presentation, the class had two minutes to ask questions for clarity. My grading was based on quality of summaries, artistic expression of topic through illustration, efficient use of research time, and clear communication during the presentation.

Following the presentations, I hung the dodecahedrons from the classroom ceiling for all to enjoy for a few weeks. After that, students took them home—and most of them told me that they hung them in their bedrooms.

If your students needed extra motivation or if you have classes that are highly competitive, you could make the project into a competition by asking faculty members to judge the dodecahedrons and presentations, and award a first, second, and third place for each class.

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Research Projects in American History

Students are working on research projects in middle school history classes. They were given a variety of choices in both project styles and topics to research, and then they were off to the races. After doing a practice research lesson in sixth grade and a refresher on research in seventh grade, students dug in to learn more about their topics. One student is creating a presentation, many are writing research papers, several are doing creative pieces based on historical research, many are creating informative posters, and quite a few have chosen to tackle the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association’s Law Day essay prompt: “What is the Importance of an Independent Judiciary?” On an even larger scale, several students have opted to participate in National History Day, with the theme: “Frontiers in History: People, Places, Events.” We’ll be practicing citations over the next few days and completing peer review prior to turning in final projects.

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10 Exciting History Projects For More Active Learning in Middle School

Textbook alternatives designed for active and engaged learning.

It’s sometimes really easy to get into a stale routine when teaching history. Read, take notes, take the quiz. Read, take notes, take the quiz. Rinse and repeat until test time. A lot of the traditional curricula in middle school are structured in this way. Though it is really encouraging that people are now creating more exciting and engaging lessons to teach history and social studies. The best lessons in your middle school history class include history projects that are very student-centered.

But I know that creating stellar social studies lessons can be really intimidating. Somehow we think the only way to do so is by knowing a lot about the topic. We put so much pressure on ourselves. I think it’s one of the main reasons why we white knuckle clutch those middle school history textbooks. We don’t even know what we don’t know. How can we engage and teach our students?!

That’s why the research on student engagement is really empowering. Our learners today actually don’t expect us to know everything. Instead, they want to see how we learn things and to learn together with us. 

Whew! Because even people with Ph.Ds in history actually don’t know everything there is to know about history. So having that kind of expectation on yourself is not realistic. 

5 Keys to Increasing Student Engagement According to Researchers

A lot of research has focused on student engagement. They’ve done extensive interviews and surveyed thousands of students. Researchers have tracked student performance and success based on student engagement. My previous article has a summary of some of their most important findings . You can go there for more details and for links to some of the research. But here’s a quick recap:

• Interaction – Students want collaborative learning opportunities. 
• Exploration – Students want to explore their world and find answers for themselves.
• Relevancy – Students engage better in meaningful activities that can directly apply to their life.
• Proper Tech Use – It’s important for teachers to use technology in a way that supplements their teaching and reinforces exploration and interaction. 
• Engaging and Challenging Instruction – Students don’t want watered down curricula or low quality instruction and no discipline or consequences. They want rigor and challenge delivered in an engaging way. They want to design their own learning.

This research is really exciting! It gives us permission not to know everything right away. Instead we should act as co-learners with our kids and guide them through the process of exploration and discovery.

10 Middle School History Project Ideas to Increase Student Engagement

So I’ve come up with a list of ten highly engaging middle school history projects you can do with your learners in class. These activities are designed around student exploration and teachers acting as co-learners. 

I’ve done quite a few articles focused on simple and practical ways to engage your students . So in this list, I am focusing more on bigger middle school history projects. These are intended to be more like units of study. I only have space to give a brief description for each, but I’ll work on more specific and detailed curricula/articles for the future (Join the mailing list to get updates ^_^). 

History Debates  

This by far has been my and my students’ favorite history project in the classroom. Students beg to do history debates. It’s very student driven, truly collaborative, and rigorous. It reinforces and develops many important skills our kids need today: research and information literacy, communication, persuasion, claim-evidence connection, logic, evaluation and so much more. 

It’s important to note that the goal is to explore a topic using a structured and purposeful approach. Students know that their research and arguments will be actively evaluated and challenged by their own peers. So there’s quite a bit of pressure and competition.

I know the Socratic Seminar format is also great for exploring and discussing topics. But I like the focus, structure, and intensity of the debates. Students keep each other on their toes as far as providing researched evidence for their claims. They also get a lot of feedback from their peers on how they communicate ideas, their logic and thought process, and the quality of their research. 

Remember it’s not supposed to be perfect. The beauty of these debates is that they are student driven. Students determine the topics to focus on. They give each other homework. Then they assess their own work based on quality and logic. They give each other feedback. Your role as the teacher is to guide them and give them a good rubric to help them. 

When doing these debates, I’ve been most surprised and rewarded by how much some of my more anxious or shy kids have blossomed. Some of them take on leadership roles and become the group expert, whether it’s in research or strategy. There’s just so much more room and opportunities for each child to shine under this model. 

History Documentaries 

For this history project, you can have the kids work in pairs or in groups of three. It’s also possible as an individual project. It’s a great way to have students explore and research a topic that they’re interested in. For example, when studying the 1920s, I’ve had students create documentaries on fashion, baseball, and comic books. I gave brief lessons and readings that provided an overview of the age. These lessons gave students ideas to explore. 

It’s very important to come up with a rubric. I recommend having the kids help you make one so that they really understand the expectations and are truly part of evaluating their own work. They’ll also be more motivated to do well when they have this type of ownership. 

We also review and emphasize proper research and giving credits to their sources. I also usually have the kids use primary sources in their films. The Library of Congress is a great place to start. 

History Board Games  

Did you know that the game Monopoly is based off of a game called Landlord’s Game ? Not only was Landlord’s Game invented by a woman, Lizzie Magie, in the early 1900s, but it was also designed to bring attention to a social injustice regarding property and real estate. The spaces on the Monopoly board game are even based on real companies and places in the United States. 

You can ask your students to create a board game inspired by whatever time period or topic you’re studying. Have them include real people, places, and events. You can even challenge them to somehow show the historical concepts and themes in their board game. I love the endless options for creativity.

History Sort  

In this activity, you can give students key terms, places, people, events, and concepts from the time period you’re studying. Have them sort the words and phrases into different groups. They should be prepared to back up and explain their groupings. Challenge them to create as many different groupings as possible. They should research to see if they can discover things in common between the different terms. 

You can make it into a game where they present their groupings, and their peers will have to figure out the reason behind the groupings.

History Guess Who (or what or when)

Start by giving clues about a person, or pose a question like the ones below:

Who’s most likely to____. 

Who is most likely to have written this letter/ said this/committed this crime/etc.?

You can use primary sources, real events, or make them up. Have students defend their answers using historical evidence. Then give them the opportunity to come up with their own History Guess Who riddles. This can be something you do in one sitting or make it into a mini-research project. You can accommodate for different ability levels by limiting or expanding choices.

Most Important (or Influential/Villainous/etc) Person/Invention/Event of the Year

In this history project, you can ask students to research and come up with a list. They can pretend to be compiling it for a magazine or website. Have them put their list together with descriptions and explanations of their reasoning behind their rankings. Have them publish somehow – magazine format, video, digital website, podcast, etc.

Or you can task students to come up with just one person (or intention/event/etc) and debate each other. 

You can put them into groups to research and debate. This would give them a lot of practice in communication and persuasion. They’ll be challenged to converge and agree on one choice within their own groups and to defend that choice to others. 

Or you can have students pick individually and debate one another. You can have brackets and converge on a class winner. Students can judge the debates and cast votes for winners. 

I would recommend having a panel of student judges for both scenarios. Though they don’t necessarily have to determine who wins, student judges should ask debaters clarifying questions, evaluate and give feedback on research, logic, presentation, etc. 

If you want to dive into a little more speculation, you can tweak the task into something like “Which person from ___________ would be the most successful (richest/famous/etc) today?” Get creative! Have the students help you with ideas. Have fun with it!

History Commercials

You can have your student create a commercial to market a particular time period/person/tech/etc in history/time period for this history project. They can answer prompts like: 

When is the best time to live? 

What was the most useful/funnest invention of the 19th century? 

Who should be the president of the United States in (some future year)? 

What I love about this is that learners are forced to summarize the most important characteristics of whatever/whoever they’re selling and spin those characteristics into something attractive for viewers. This activity gives them opportunities to research and practice sales and psychology as well as history.

Living Museum  

This is a fun biography project. Instead of writing an essay or in addition to it, students take on the persona of their assigned or chosen person. They would need to know that person so well that they will be able to answer visitor questions either by using actual facts from their research or making reasonable speculations based on the character and personality of their historical figure. Students can have props or dress ups, etc 

Historical Entrepreneurs  

Have your students choose or come up with a business idea that would prosper during the time period you are studying. Have them focus on a problem that a particular part of the population is dealing with. Then have them figure out what service or product their business can offer to help their customers. 

This has many opportunities for greater elaboration if you want. Students can think about and plan how they would produce their product or deliver their service. They can research locations, price of buildings, business taxes and laws, etc. Remind them that they can choose different business structures – local small business, corporation, etc. 

Have Students Create Their Own Research Question and Design Their Own Project:  

Make sure to first give them lots of example projects and questions like the ones above. Otherwise, they might just resort to the traditional poster or essay, which is fine if that’s what they really want to do. It’s just that sometimes they choose those types of projects because they have a hard time thinking of ideas. It can be very motivating and inspiring for them to hear the types of things they can do. 

Help them come up with a rubric to judge the quality of their project. Make sure to include things like: claim-evidence connection, historical accuracy, quality of sources, amount and depth of content, and workmanship/craftmanship.

Then work backwards from there to help them plan out the actions they need to take and even create a schedule to meet any deadlines. 

Anyway, I hope this has been helpful! Have a beautiful and blessed day!

Assigning Research Projects in Middle School: Tips for Teachers on Teaching the Proper Structure of a Research Project

• Kellie Hayden
• Categories : Middle school teaching strategies
• Tags : Teaching middle school grades 6 8

Middle school students generally need to learn the correct way to do a research paper. They have been “researching” for years.

However, they don’t always know how to do it properly. When students are asked to research and not given instruction on the proper way to format a research paper, teachers might receive unusual papers.

Common Mistakes

Students can clean up their mistakes when teachers are clear about what they expect and give examples. However, when students are simply told to research and turn in a paper, blunders will happen. An almost “laughable” mistake made by middle school students was listing Google.com as the only source.

As for plagiarism, students go to great lengths to get away with it. Or, they mistakenly do it. A middle school student copied a whole section from an online encyclopedia and thought that it was okay because he listed the source on the works cited page. One student who was trying desperately not to plagiarize placed the whole text of her research paper in quotation marks. These types of errors will continue to happen if teachers are not clear about their expectations.

Teacher Preparation

Teachers need to gather together resource books or examples of research papers , find acceptable paper format websites, write a step-by-step project sheet and put together a grading sheet or rubric for the research project . Teachers need to decide what format they want their students to follow: MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.

The following are tips to help with the planning:

• For the first research paper, assign a short one (1-3 pages) so that the format is the focus.
• The Writer’s Inc or Write Source book by Great Source is a great reference book that includes example research papers. However, there are many online resources as well.
• The works cited page, reference pager or bibliography require a great deal of class time. Instructing students to make a proper reference page with all of the periods and spacing correct can be a maddening experience. The S_on of Citation Machine_ website is a very helpful website.
• Give students a rubric or grade sheet before they begin working on the research paper.

Example Reserach Paper Grade Sheet

Format (25 points)

• Correct title, page header, page number
• Spacing and margins
• Sections in correct order
• Proper works cited page, reference page or bibliography

Structure & Organization (25 points)

• Strong thesis statement
• Attention-getting introductory paragraph
• Topic sentences relates to thesis statement
• Main points are in a logical order
• Main points flow well with transitons
• Conclusion wraps up paper

Grammar 25 (points)

• Correct grammar, spelling, usage and mechanics

Content (25 points)

• Not repetitive, fresh, interesting
• Not copied from original source
• Proves and/or supports thesis statement
• Provides enough credible information

Writing the Research Paper

Students need to begin their research project with an interesting topic. However, they need to select one that is not too broad. They should come up with one sentence that tells what the paper will be about or a thesis statement to focus their research.

Teachers can require note cards or have students highlight printed notes from the Internet. Students should create an outline to organize their information. Then, they should write a rough draft. Teachers can read the rough drafts and check that students did not plagiarize. Last, students need to type their research paper in the correct format by using the resources they have been given.

Research projects are a time consuming unit. The more organized the teacher is before embarking on this activity, the better the papers will be in the end.

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What is the goal when de escalating crisis behavior at school ?

Middle school is a time of burgeoning curiosity and the perfect opportunity for students to engage in research that not only educates them academically but also cultivates skills for the future. By encouraging young learners to explore topics they are passionate about, educators and parents play a pivotal role in their intellectual development and the growth of their intrinsic motivation. This blog post outlines a diverse range of research topics suited to the inquiring minds of middle school students, giving them the freedom to deepen their understanding of various subjects while honing critical thinking and independent study skills.

Uncovering the Mysteries of History

Middle schoolers often find history fascinating, particularly when learning about the past from distinct perspectives. Here are some intriguing historical research topics to consider:

• The Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: Apart from the well-known leaders, students can explore the contributions of lesser-known figures who played a significant role in the struggle for equality.
• The Impact of Ancient Civilizations on Modern Society: Researching the ways in which the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, or other ancient societies have influenced contemporary culture, politics, and technology offers a broad canvas for exploration.
• Everyday Life in Different Historical Periods: Focusing on the routines, customs, and technologies that shaped people’s daily lives in times gone by can provide valuable insights into societal norms and individual experiences.

Science and the Natural World

The sciences are a playground of wonder, with an infinity of topics waiting to be explored. Here are some research ideas that can nurture a love for discovery and experimentation:

• Climate Change: Effects and Solutions: Investigating the causes and potential solutions to this global challenge can make students aware of their role in protecting the planet.
• The Wonders of the Solar System: Encouraging a study of the planets, their moons, and the vast expanse of space they inhabit can ignite dreams of interstellar exploration.
• Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation: Researching the variety of life on Earth and strategies to protect and sustain ecosystems can foster a sense of environmental stewardship.

Literature, Language, and Creative Expression

Language and literature are potent forms of human expression, allowing students to explore complex ideas and emotions. Here are some topics that bridge the gap between art and academia:

• Interpreting Classic Literature for Modern Relevance: Encouraging the study of timeless works can lead to discussions on their contemporary significance and the evolution of societal values.
• The Structure and Evolution of Language: Investigating the origins and changes in language over time can be a rich area of study, especially when paired with the examination of cultural shifts.
• The Intersection of Art and Literature: Exploring how visual arts and writing intersect to convey messages and emotions can be a fertile ground for interdisciplinary research.

Mathematics and Logic Puzzles

The precision and patterns found in mathematics can be both satisfying and thought-provoking. Middle school students often enjoy the thrill of solving problems and unraveling puzzles. Here are some mathematical research topics that can engage students’ analytical minds:

• Famous Mathematical Conjectures: Researching unsolved problems, such as the Goldbach conjecture or the Riemann hypothesis, can introduce students to the excitement of open questions in mathematics.
• The Application of Math in Various Industries: Investigating how mathematical principles underpin fields like music, art, sports, and technology can illuminate the subject’s real-world utility.
• The History of Mathematical Discoveries: Tracing the lineage of mathematical concepts through different cultures and periods can showcase the universality and timelessness of mathematics.

Social Sciences and Human Interaction

Studying human behavior and society can help students develop empathy and a deeper understanding of the world around them. Here are some social science research ideas to explore:

• The Impact of Social Media on Friendships and Relationships: Research could focus on positive and negative effects, trends, and the future of social interaction.
• Cultural Traditions and Their Meanings: Investigating the origins and contemporary significance of customs from various cultures can foster respect for diversity and a global perspective.
• The Psychology of Decision Making: Exploring the factors that influence human choices, from cognitive biases to social pressures, can provide insights into individual and collective behavior.

Technology and Innovation

Middle schoolers are often tech-savvy and interested in the latest gadgets and advancements. Here are some technology and innovation research topics to tap into that curiosity:

• The Impact of Gaming on Society: Research could examine how video games influence education, social issues, or even career choices.
• Emerging Technologies and Their Ethical Implications: Encouraging students to study technologies like artificial intelligence, gene editing, or wearable tech can lead to discussions on the ethical considerations of their use and development.
• Inventions That Changed the World: Chronicling the history and influence of significant inventions, from the wheel to the internet, can provide a lens through which to view human progress.

By providing middle schoolers with the opportunity to conduct meaningful research in a topic of their choosing, we not only deepen their education but also equip them with the skills and passion for a lifetime of learning. This list is just the beginning; the key is to foster curiosity and guide young minds toward engaging, challenging, and diverse research experiences. Through such explorations, we empower the next generation to think critically, communicate effectively, and, most importantly, to nurture their innate curiosity about the world.

Implementing Research Projects in the Classroom

Encouraging middle school students to undertake research projects requires a strategic approach to ensure sustained interest and meaningful outcomes. Here are some methods educators can employ:

• Mentorship and Support: Pairing students with teacher mentors who can guide them through the research process, provide feedback, and encourage critical thinking is essential for a fruitful research experience.
• Cross-Curricular Integration: Linking research topics to content from different subjects helps students appreciate the interconnectedness of knowledge and develop versatile learning skills.
• Use of Technology and Media: Incorporating digital tools for research, presentation, and collaboration can enhance engagement and teach essential 21st-century skills.
• Presentation and Reflection: Allocating time for students to present their findings nurtures communication skills and confidence, while self-reflection activities help them internalize their learning journey.

These strategies can create a robust framework within which students can pursue their curiosities, leading to a more personalized and impactful educational experience.

What is a good topic to research for middle school?

A good topic for middle school research could delve into the Role of Robotics in the Future of Society . Students can explore how robotics may transform jobs, healthcare, and everyday life. They can examine the balance between automation and human work, predict how robots could augment human abilities, and discuss the ethical dimensions of a robotic future. This inquiry not only captivates the imagination but also encourages critical thinking about technology’s impact on tomorrow’s world.

What are the 10 research titles examples?

• The Evolution of Renewable Energy and Its Future Prospects
• Investigating the Effects of Microplastics on Marine Ecosystems
• The Influence of Ancient Civilizations on Modern Democracy
• Understanding Black Holes: Unveiling the Mysteries of the Cosmos
• The Impact of Augmented Reality on Education and Training
• Climate Change and Its Consequences on Coastal Cities
• The Psychological Effects of Social Media on Teenagers
• Genetic Engineering: The Possibilities and Pitfalls
• Smart Cities: How Technology is Shaping Urban Living
• The Role of Nanotechnology in Medicine: Current Applications and Future Potential

Fascinating Facts About Middle School Research Topics

• Interdisciplinary Impact : Research projects in middle school often blend subjects, such as the integration of art and mathematics when exploring patterns and symmetry, which helps students discover the interconnectivity of different fields of knowledge.
• Skill Building : Engaging in research equips middle schoolers with advanced skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, and time management, which are beneficial across their academic journey and beyond.
• Diversity in Content : Middle school research topics are notably diverse, ranging from examining the role of robotics in society to exploring the psychological effects of social media, catering to a wide array of student interests and strengths.
• Tech Savvy Learning : Technology-based research topics, such as the influence of smart cities or the impact of augmented reality in education, are deeply relevant to tech-savvy middle school students, making learning more engaging and relatable.
• Cultural Relevance : Researching topics like cultural traditions and their meanings encourages middle schoolers to develop a global perspective and fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation for the diversity within their own school community and the world at large.

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Interactive, Hands-on lessons and test prep ideas for US History Classrooms

Decades Project for US History

March 16, 2023

Have you ever assigned a decades project for your US History class?  It’s the end of the year.   You’ve finished your US History curriculum and need something engaging for students to go as an end of the year project?  It’s time to try a US History end of the year decades project!

Are you like me?

It’s May and standardized testing season is over.  You feel like you’ve done all of the fun review activities you can handle for the year.  You need to keep your students engaged and everyone is exhausted!  You want something that students can do independently that will hold their interest.  Sound familiar?

I have tried several projects over the years:  Oral History projects, “pick a topic from this year and research deeper”, Instagram summaries, etc.  All of these were fine, but I found that students really didn’t “get into them” and the work they produced was just ok.  

What is a decades project?

I created a one-pager type summary page for each decade covering the 1920s – 2010s.  Students will research a decade and create images for a variety of topics that relate to that decade.  Finally, they explain how each image relates to the decade they chose.  

The final product is a highly visual representation of each decade!

Benefits of a decades project?

• High interest due to student choice and topics
• Independent research means no direct teaching from you!
• Hand drawn or digital – students get to choose!
• Students love to research the “non history” stuff of a decade such as fashion and music.

How does it work?

• I created a sign up sheet for each decade.
• Students sign up for the decade of their choice.  I capped each decade at 4 because, let’s be honest, 1999s rap is cool.
• After students sign up, they choose to complete the digital version or hand drawn version.
• Students begin their research on the following topics for their decade:  fashion, innovations, music, fads, key events, literature, popular culture, kids/toys.  
• For each topic, students would include 4 images.  You could require more or less.
• I allowed students to include keywords with their visuals, but told them not to use sentences.  The point is to have each decade be a visual representation.
• I required students to use color and be neat.
• Students created a separate document/paper that explained each image for the decade.  They stapled it to their decades page or added a slide before turning it in. 

Student feedback?

Students love this project.  They love the ability to have free research time and that they can be creative.  

Why do I love it?

• The creativity students have is outstanding!
• I love the high quality work they produce on this project!
• We have been so content/standards driven all year, it’s nice to allow students a chance to breathe and research the fun stuff!  
• While they are working I can wrap up end of the year requirements for my school, like grades.

High interest, low stress = it’s a win, win for both teachers and students.  Check out this free and editable decades project and let me know how your students love it! 

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Black History Month Research Project

• Easel Activity

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Description.

Are you searching for meaningful Black History Month activities for your middle school students? This Research Project which includes a Creative Poster Project is the perfect way to celebrate Black History Month and teach useful research, writing , and communication skills at the same time!

Students will learn vital research skills , learn about an influential African American , put their thoughts and ideas down in an ORGANIZED essay , peer edit and revise their essays, and present their research findings through a creative poster presentation .

Teaching the research process to our students can be difficult! Let me take that step out for you with this resource! Slides, activities, and worksheets walk students through the entire process for you!

Students will learn skills that can be applied to any future research project!

What's Included :

• General Teacher Guidelines and Instructions
• 120+ Instructional Slides Teacher Modeling Built-In to Slides Presentation
• Unit Overview
• 9 Individual Lesson Plans
• List of 140+ Influential African Americans
• Note-taking Graphic Organizers
• Useful Student Reference Materials
• Answer Keys (where applicable)
• Grading Rubrics (where applicable)
• Technology Helps

Topics Covered :

• Research Process
• Primary and Secondary Sources
• Evaluating Sources for Credibility
• Internet Search Tips
• Research and Note-taking
• Writing a Simple Bibliography
• Creative Poster Presentation

UPDATE! (1.30.24) - The Extensive List of Influential African Americans now includes more incredible women !

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• My Storyboards

History Timeline Project

In this activity, activity overview, template and class instructions, more storyboard that activities.

• This Activity is Part of Many Teacher Guides

Timelines are a helpful way for students to organize facts, people and events and to visualize how certain events impacted those that followed. By using the Storyboard That Creator to construct a timeline, students go beyond simply memorizing dates and are able to think critically about how to illustrate and describe important events.

This example highlights a few of the important dates leading up to the Declaration of Independence , however, any topic could be used! Teachers could have students create timelines of specific historical periods that they are studying. They could illustrate the progression of a topic through the ages such as the history of voting rights or the history of the printing press ! Timelines could be used in ELA to show the progression of events throughout a story or a biography of a person's life. The possibilities are endless!

For an alternative to the timeline layout, have students create a timeline poster or a worksheet sized timeline to incorporate into a presentation or gallery walk. You can add more than one template to this assignment to give students lots of options and adjust the instructions accordingly.

(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)

Objective: Create a timeline in chronological order with accurate dates, descriptions. and illustrations for 5-10 important events relating to your topic.

Student Instructions:

• Click “Start Assignment”.
• Choose 5-10 important events related to your topic.
• In the timeline template, click on “Timeline Dates”, and write the dates of each milestone in the date cells in chronological order. Then click “update timeline”.
• For each cell, write a title at the top and write a 1-3 sentence description at the bottom for each event.
• Create an illustration that represents each event using appropriate scenes, characters, and items.
• Save and exit when you're finished.

Requirements: 5-10 events listed with correct dates, 1-3 sentence description and appropriate illustration.

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-8

Difficulty Level 3 (Developing to Mastery)

Type of Assignment Individual or Partner

Type of Activity: Timelines

• [ELA-LITERACY/CCRA/R/1] Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• [ELA-LITERACY/CCRA/R/7] Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
• [ELA-LITERACY/CCRA/W/6] Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
• [ELA-LITERACY/WHST/6-8/2/B] Develop the topic with relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.

(You can also create your own on Quick Rubric .)

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30 Captivating Research Activities for Middle School

February 6, 2023 //  by  Josilyn Markel

Learning to research effectively is an important skill that middle-school-aged students can learn and carry with them for their whole academic careers. The students in question will use these skills for everything from reading news articles to writing a systematic review of their sources. With increased demands on students these days, it’s never too early to introduce these sophisticated research skills. 

We’ve collected thirty of the best academic lessons for middle school students to learn about sophisticated research skills that they’ll use for the rest of their lives. 

1. Guiding Questions for Research

When you first give a research project to middle school students, it’s important to make sure that they really understand the research prompts. You can use this guiding questions tool with students to help them draw on existing knowledge to properly contextualize the prompt and assignment before they even pick up a pen. 

Learn More: Mrs. Spangler in the Middle

2. Teaching Research Essential Skills Bundle

This bundle touches on all the writing skills, planning strategies, and so-called soft skills that students will need to get started on their first research project. These resources are especially geared towards middle school-aged students to help them with cognitive control tasks plus engaging and active lessons. 

Learn More: Pinterest

3. How to Develop a Research Question

Before a middle school student can start their research time on task, they have to form a solid research question. This resource features activities for students that will help them identify a problem and then formulate a question that will guide their research project going first. 

Learn More: YouTube

4. Note-Taking Skills Infographic

For a strong introduction and/or systematic review of the importance of note-taking, look no further than this infographic. It covers several excellent strategies for taking the most important info from a source, and it also gives tips for using these strategies to strengthen writing skills. 

Learn More: Word Counter

5. Guide to Citing Online Sources

One of the more sophisticated research skills is learning to cite sources. These days, the internet is the most popular place to find research sources, so learning the citation styles for making detailed citations for internet sources is an excellent strategy. This is a skill that will stick with middle school students throughout their entire academic careers! 

Learn More: Educator’s Technology

6. Guided Student-Led Research Projects

This is a great way to boost communication between students while also encouraging choice and autonomy throughout the research process. This really opens up possibilities for students and boosts student activity and engagement throughout the whole project. The group setup also decreases the demands on students as individuals. 

Learn More: The Thinker Builder

7. Teaching Students to Fact-Check

Fact-checking is an important meta-analytic review skill that every student needs. This resource introduces probing questions that students can ask in order to ensure that the information they’re looking at is actually true. This can help them identify fake news, find more credible sources, and improve their overall sophisticated research skills. 

Learn More: Just Add Students

8. Fact-Checking Like a Pro

This resource features great teaching strategies (such as visualization) to help alleviate the demands on students when it comes to fact-checking their research sources. It’s perfect for middle school-aged students who want to follow the steps to make sure that they’re using credible sources in all of their research projects, for middle school and beyond!

9. Website Evaluation Activity

With this activity, you can use any website as a backdrop. This is a great way to help start the explanation of sources that will ultimately lead to helping students locate and identify credible sources (rather than fake news). With these probing questions, students will be able to evaluate websites effectively.

10. How to Take Notes in Class

This visually pleasing resource tells students everything they need to know about taking notes in a classroom setting. It goes over how to glean the most important information from the classroom teacher, and how to organize the info in real-time, and it gives tips for cognitive control tasks and other sophisticated research skills that will help students throughout the research and writing process. 

Learn More: Visualistan

11. Teaching Research Papers: Lesson Calendar

If you have no idea how you’re going to cover all the so-called soft skills, mini-lessons, and activities for students during your research unit, then don’t fret! This calendar breaks down exactly what you should be teaching, and when. It introduces planning strategies, credible sources, and all the other research topics with a logical and manageable flow. 

Learn More: Discover Hub Pages

12. Google Docs Features for Teaching Research

With this resource, you can explore all of the handy research-focused features that are already built into Google Docs! You can use it to build activities for students or to make your existing activities for students more tech-integrated. You can use this tool with students from the outset to get them interested and familiar with the Google Doc setup. 

13. Using Effective Keywords to Search the Internet

The internet is a huge place, and this vast amount of knowledge puts huge demands on students’ skills and cognition. That’s why they need to learn how to search online effectively, with the right keywords. This resource teaches middle school-aged students how to make the most of all the search features online. 

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

14. How to Avoid Plagiarism: “Did I Plagiarize?” 

This student activity looks at the biggest faux pas in middle school research projects: plagiarism. These days, the possibilities for students to plagiarize are endless, so it’s important for them to learn about quotation marks, paraphrasing, and citations. This resource includes information on all of those and in a handy flow chart to keep them right!

Learn More: Twitter

15. 7 Tips for Recognizing Bias

This is a resource to help middle school-aged students recognize the differences between untrustworthy and credible sources. It gives a nice explanation of sources that are trustworthy and also offers a source of activities that students can use to test and practice identifying credible sources. 

Learn More: We Are Teachers

16. UNESCO’s Laws for Media Literacy

This is one of those great online resources that truly focuses on the students in question, and it serves a larger, global goal. It offers probing questions that can help middle school-aged children determine whether or not they’re looking at credible online resources. It also helps to strengthen the so-called soft skills that are necessary for completing research. 

Learn More: SLJ Blogs

17. Guide for Evaluating a News Article

Here are active lessons that students can use to learn more about evaluating a news article, whether it’s on a paper or online resource. It’s also a great tool to help solidify the concept of fake news and help students build an excellent strategy for identifying and utilizing credible online sources. 

Learn More: Valencia College

18. Middle School Research Projects Middle School Students Will Love

Here is a list of 30 great research projects for middle schoolers, along with cool examples of each one. It also goes through planning strategies and other so-called soft skills that your middle school-aged students will need in order to complete such projects.

Learn More: Madly Learning

19. Teaching Analysis with Body Biographies

This is a student activity and teaching strategy all rolled into one! It looks at the importance of research and biographies, which brings a human element to the research process. It also helps communication between students and helps them practice those so-called soft skills that come in handy while researching. 

Learn More: Study All Knight

20. Top Tips for Teaching Research in Middle School

When it comes to teaching middle school research, there are wrong answers and there are correct answers. You can learn all the correct answers and teaching strategies with this resource, which debunks several myths about teaching the writing process at the middle school level. 

Learn More: Teaching ELA with Joy

21. Teaching Students to Research Online: Lesson Plan

This is a ready-made lesson plan that is ready to present. You don’t have to do tons of preparation, and you’ll be able to explain the basic and foundational topics related to research. Plus, it includes a couple of activities to keep students engaged throughout this introductory lesson.

Learn More: Kathleen Morris

22. Project-Based Learning: Acceptance and Tolerance

This is a series of research projects that look at specific problems regarding acceptance and tolerance. It offers prompts for middle school-aged students that will get them to ask big questions about themselves and others in the world around them. 

Learn More: Sandy Cangelosi

23. 50 Tiny Lessons for Teaching Research Skills in Middle School

These fifty mini-lessons and activities for students will have middle school-aged students learning and applying research skills in small chunks. The mini-lessons approach allows students to get bite-sized information and focus on mastering and applying each step of the research process in turn. This way, with mini-lessons, students don’t get overwhelmed with the whole research process at once. In this way, mini-lessons are a great way to teach the whole research process!

24. Benefits of Research Projects for Middle School Students

Whenever you feel like it’s just not worth it to go to the trouble to teach your middle school-aged students about research, let this list motivate you! It’s a great reminder of all the great things that come with learning to do good research at an early age. 

Learn More: Thrive in Grade Five

25. Top 5 Study and Research Skills for Middle Schoolers

This is a great resource for a quick and easy overview of the top skills that middle schoolers will need before they dive into research. It outlines the most effective tools to help your students study and research well, throughout their academic careers. 

Learn More: Meagan Gets Real

26. Research with Informational Text: World Travelers

This travel-themed research project will have kids exploring the whole world with their questions and queries. It is a fun way to bring new destinations into the research-oriented classroom. 

Learn More: The Superhero Teacher

27. Project-Based Learning: Plan a Road Trip

If you want your middle school-aged students to get into the researching mood, have them plan a road trip! They’ll have to examine the prompt from several angles and collect data from several sources before they can put together a plan for an epic road trip. 

Learn More: Appletastic Learning

28. Methods for Motivating Writing Skills

When your students just are feeling up to the task of research-based writing, it’s time to break out these motivational methods. With these tips and tricks, you’ll be able to get your kids in the mood to research, question, and write!

29. How to Set Up a Student Research Station

This article tells you everything you need to know about a student center focused on sophisticated research skills. These student center activities are engaging and fun, and they touch on important topics in the research process, such as planning strategies, fact-checking skills, citation styles, and some so-called soft skills.

Learn More: Upper Elementary Snapshots

30. Learn to Skim and Scan to Make Research Easier

These activities for students are geared towards encouraging reading skills that will ultimately lead to better and easier research. The skills in question? Skimming and scanning. This will help students read more efficiently and effectively as they research from a variety of sources.

Findings from the Field: Students and Professionals Connect at Research Symposium

On March 18, 2024, 65 middle and high school scientists gathered at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland, Maine to share their science research projects with one another and with professional scientists from GMRI, Mount Washington Observatory (MWOBS), and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. GMRI is the anchor institution for the NASA Science Activation Program's Learning Ecosystems Northeast (LENE) project, which supports Findings from the Field , a journal of student scientific research. Annually, youth submitting research to the journal have the opportunity to come together to share their work during the Student Research Symposium.

This year, student and professional scientists alike prepared and delivered lightning talks and discussed their research during poster sessions. This year’s symposium featured student research on invasive green crabs, smelt population estimates using eDNA technology, climate impacts on bees and blueberries, ocean plastics, and more. Presentations by five early career scientists from GMRI and MWOBS provided an opportunity for youth to talk with near-peer role models. The program featured a scientific talk by Brandon Rodriguez from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory that inspired youth to think about the breadth of possibilities for working in planetary science. It was an exciting day for all, topped off with evening news coverage on three local television channels! Volume 7 of Findings from the Field will be released later this spring after students complete the journal’s peer review process and polish up their pieces for publication.

Odin Bravo from Baxter Academy in Portland, Maine, said, "I plan on going into science for my career, so being able to do something outside of school like this is very helpful to get me ready and to get feedback to make me better."

The Learning Ecosystems Northeast project is supported by NASA under cooperative agreement award number NNX16AB94A and is part of NASA’s Science Activation Portfolio. To learn more, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/sciact-team/gmri/

Related Terms

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Why were so many metro stations in Moscow renamed?

Okhotny Ryad station in Soviet times and today.

The Moscow metro system has 275 stations, and 28 of them have been renamed at some point or other—and several times in some cases. Most of these are the oldest stations, which opened in 1935.

The politics of place names

The first station to change its name was Ulitsa Kominterna (Comintern Street). The Comintern was an international communist organization that ceased to exist in 1943, and after the war Moscow authorities decided to call the street named after it something else. In 1946, the station was renamed Kalininskaya. Then for several days in 1990, the station was called Vozdvizhenka, before eventually settling on Aleksandrovsky Sad, which is what it is called today.

The banner on the entraince reads: "Kalininskaya station." Now it's Alexandrovsky Sad.

Until 1957, Kropotkinskaya station was called Dvorets Sovetov ( Palace of Soviets ). There were plans to build a monumental Stalinist high-rise on the site of the nearby Cathedral of Christ the Saviour , which had been demolished. However, the project never got off the ground, and after Stalin's death the station was named after Kropotkinskaya Street, which passes above it.

Dvorets Sovetov station, 1935. Letters on the entrance: "Metro after Kaganovich."

Of course, politics was the main reason for changing station names. Initially, the Moscow Metro itself was named after Lazar Kaganovich, Joseph Stalin’s right-hand man. Kaganovich supervised the construction of the first metro line and was in charge of drawing up a master plan for reconstructing Moscow as the "capital of the proletariat."

In 1955, under Nikita Khrushchev's rule and during the denunciation of Stalin's personality cult, the Moscow Metro was named in honor of Vladimir Lenin.

Kropotkinskaya station, our days. Letters on the entrance: "Metropolitan after Lenin."

New Metro stations that have been opened since the collapse of the Soviet Union simply say "Moscow Metro," although the metro's affiliation with Vladimir Lenin has never officially been dropped.

Zyablikovo station. On the entrance, there are no more signs that the metro is named after Lenin.

Stations that bore the names of Stalin's associates were also renamed under Khrushchev. Additionally, some stations were named after a neighborhood or street and if these underwent name changes, the stations themselves had to be renamed as well.

Until 1961 the Moscow Metro had a Stalinskaya station that was adorned by a five-meter statue of the supreme leader. It is now called Semyonovskaya station.

Left: Stalinskaya station. Right: Now it's Semyonovskaya.

The biggest wholesale renaming of stations took place in 1990, when Moscow’s government decided to get rid of Soviet names. Overnight, 11 metro stations named after revolutionaries were given new names. Shcherbakovskaya became Alekseyevskaya, Gorkovskaya became Tverskaya, Ploshchad Nogina became Kitay-Gorod and Kirovskaya turned into Chistye Prudy. This seriously confused passengers, to put it mildly, and some older Muscovites still call Lubyanka station Dzerzhinskaya for old times' sake.

At the same time, certain stations have held onto their Soviet names. Marksistskaya and Kropotkinskaya, for instance, although there were plans to rename them too at one point.

"I still sometimes mix up Teatralnaya and Tverskaya stations,” one Moscow resident recalls .

 “Both have been renamed and both start with a ‘T.’ Vykhino still grates on the ear and, when in 1991 on the last day of my final year at school, we went to Kitay-Gorod to go on the river cruise boats, my classmates couldn’t believe that a station with that name existed."

The city government submitted a station name change for public discussion for the first time in 2015. The station in question was Voykovskaya, whose name derives from the revolutionary figure Pyotr Voykov. In the end, city residents voted against the name change, evidently not out of any affection for Voykov personally, but mainly because that was the name they were used to.

What stations changed their name most frequently?

Some stations have changed names three times. Apart from the above-mentioned Aleksandrovsky Sad (Ulitsa Kominterna->Kalininskaya->Vozdvizhenka->Aleksandrovsky Sad), a similar fate befell Partizanskaya station in the east of Moscow. Opened in 1944, it initially bore the ridiculously long name Izmaylovsky PKiO im. Stalina (Izmaylovsky Park of Culture and Rest Named After Stalin). In 1947, the station was renamed and simplified for convenience to Izmaylovskaya. Then in 1963 it was renamed yet again—this time to Izmaylovsky Park, having "donated" its previous name to the next station on the line. And in 2005 it was rechristened Partizanskaya to mark the 60th anniversary of victory in World War II. 

Partizanskaya metro station, nowadays.

Another interesting story involves Alekseyevskaya metro station. This name was originally proposed for the station, which opened in 1958, since a village with this name had been located here. It was then decided to call the station Shcherbakovskaya in honor of Aleksandr Shcherbakov, a politician who had been an associate of Stalin. Nikita Khrushchev had strained relations with Shcherbakov, however, and when he got word of it literally a few days before the station opening the builders had to hastily change all the signs. It ended up with the concise and politically correct name of Mir (Peace).

The name Shcherbakovskaya was restored in 1966 after Khrushchev's fall from power. It then became Alekseyevskaya in 1990.

Alekseyevskaya metro station.

But the station that holds the record for the most name changes is Okhotny Ryad, which opened in 1935 on the site of a cluster of market shops. When the metro system was renamed in honor of Lenin in 1955, this station was renamed after Kaganovich by way of compensation. The name lasted just two years though because in 1957 Kaganovich fell out of favor with Khrushchev, and the previous name was returned. But in 1961 it was rechristened yet again, this time in honor of Prospekt Marksa, which had just been built nearby.

Okhotny Ryad station in 1954 and Prospekt Marksa in 1986.

In 1990, two historical street names—Teatralny Proyezd and Mokhovaya Street—were revived to replace Prospekt Marksa, and the station once again became Okhotny Ryad.

Okhotny Ryad in 2020.

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