Not all research projects have to be a research "paper". Try these ideas.

1. Arlene Baker 856-869-7750 x8029
Haddon Twp. HS/MS abaker@haddontwpschools.com
arlenebaker50@gmail.com
1. Design a game. Students design their own game for the topic assigned by
teacher. Ideas for game design can be adaptations of commercial games. The game
must include questions and answers obtained by student research.
2. Trading cards. Illustration on front and relevant information on the back. Can be
used across many disciplines (historical figures, mythology, literary characters,
scientists, mathematicians, events, concepts, objects)
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/greekmyths.htm
3. Biographies. Brief biographies completed by students in a class are
bound and displayed in the media center. Give some specific guidelines so that there is
continuity through out book.
4. Costume. Instead of drawings, design paper dolls and costumes in which to
dress them. A progression through the ages or century or costumes worn during the
same time period but from around the world.
http://www.opdag.com/
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/Files/melissa-dolls.htm
5. Bingo. Students research a list of questions (ideally 40 or so) and put 24 of the
answers on a Bingo card. The card could also be visual instead of words. The teacher
then randomly draws questions and students search their Bingo card for the answers.
http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/bingo/
6. Newspaper. Depending on the length and detail this can be an assignment for
an individual or a group. The newspaper is geared toward the subject and topic (i.e.
History – WWI, science – medical breakthroughs of the Civil War) but can also include
incidental things that happened about the same time or popular culture of that era, home
front news, biographical sketches, advertisements, health and technology, fashions,
recipes. Some students may add political cartoons, weather happenings, etc.
7. Wanted posters. Instead of criminals (although a history class may want to
feature tyrants, dictators and the like) the posters can feature famous explorers,
scientists, musicians, artists. The posters include information about their life,
accomplishment and what they’re wanted for (is. Wanted for developing a vaccine for
polio).
8. Wall of Fame/Shame. This is similar to the wanted poster project. Students
research a person or event that is consistent with either a Wall of Fame or a Wall of
Shame. They need to have a picture or illustration and a letter of recommendation for
their nomination with detailed information to support their nomination.
9. Commemorative Postage Stamp. Similar to the Wanted Poster and Wall of
Fame/Shame projects, the student designs a postage stamp and includes a narrative
that supports their submission.
10. Celebrity Dinner. Students research a famous or historical person listing
important facts. They also prepare a list of questions that other dinner guests may ask of
them. This would work well if students could have some light refreshment and converse
with other famous guests.
11. TV or Radio News Program. Students produce a news program with feature
stories and supplemental clips that are from the actual time period. (i.e. Civil War with
features about a battle with interviews with generals, common soldier, Mathew Brady,
medical piece about surgery in the field, Clara Barton, wife of a famous Civil War
person.; Hannibal’s invasion of Rome with an elephant tamer, a general, man on the
street, news anchor in Rome)

2. http://www.lessonplanspage.com/printables/PSSCIAmericanRevolutionWebQuest710.ht
m
12. Interviews. Use with News program. “Interview the heroes and villains of the
Greek myths! Start your own class Myth-world radio or TV talk show, and let your
students' dramatic skills soar. For this activity, some students are "interviewers" while
others are "guests." The interviewer prepares a list of questions he or she wishes to ask
the guest. The guest studies the myth and tries to anticipate the questions he or she will
be asked. Ask Zeus why he gets so angry, or Icarus why he flew too close to the sun.
For fun, kids will often make up call letters and ads for their station. Talk to your class
about posing who, what, where, when, and why questions. This activity reinforces
interviewing techniques as well as drama, reading for details, forming good questions,
making inferences, and creativity. When students are ready to present their show, sit
back and enjoy. The interviews are sure to be both entertaining and educational!” (From
Scholastic Teacher’s site - http://teacher.scholastic.com
13. Business Cards. For people real or imagined.
14. Artifact display. Students research an artifact (artwork, architecture, clothing,
technology, jewelry, etc) from a specific time period and create a display that gives
information about the time period, the artifact, how it may have evolved through the
ages, which used it and how. Students contribute to a school Museum of World History.
Create a manmade artifact from a past historical period (i.e. Artwork, sculpture,
architecture, tool, clothing, jewelry). Create a display board to go with the object. A
teacher in my school requires 1 page explanation of the artifact, pictures, and five other
events happening in other parts of the world during that same time period. May also
include a map showing the location of the artifact and locations of the other events.
15. Have a party that relates to a specific event like the inauguration of George
Washington, the Harlem Renaissance, and the return of Marco Polo. Students research
the event, the people involved, and the time period. Each student is a party guest, with
some students being historical people associated with the topic and all must act in
context with the event/time period and maintain a conversation with other guests that is
consistent with the party topic.
16. Political Cartoons. This works best with a group since someone needs to have
some drawing skills. Show students samples. Assign event, time period or person. Bind
them into a book.
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2100
http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/deli/exhibits/1000810/The_Lesson.html
http://www.media-
awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/lessons/secondary/popular_culture/political
_cartoons.cfm
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/political_cartoon/resources.html
17. Resume w/cover letter for a famous historical or fictional figure applying for a modern
job. (i.e. John Wesley Powell applying to the National Park Service for a job at Grand
Canyon National Park, Clara Barton applying for the position of CEO of Blue Cross and
Blue Shield.)
18. Virtual Field Trip. (Language and geography classes) Plan a tour of a foreign
country. Include a budget, itinerary, weather, currency exchange, accommodations, at
least one ethnic meal, and a post card to send home with a picture on the front and at
least 3 facts on the back.
19. Mobiles. Include visual and text information for an invention (telephone with
shapes like 19th century phone, telephone pole, cell phone that have facts about the

3. invention and its evolution on them), chemical element, math formula, literary piece
(Harry Potter with appropriate shapes and character information), etc.
20. Poster for an element. Visually attractive, can be dimensional (milk carton for
calcium, letter shaped for its symbol
21. Scrapbook. Make a scrapbook based on information you found out about
(person, place, era, event).
22. Day (Year) I Was Born. Make a brochure similar to the ones sold in stores about
the day (year) you, your parents, your grandparents, an historical person or thing (i.e.
United States) was born, created, happened.
Decade books
Time line books
Books like Thomson Gale Era or Decade books
Samples of commercially produced Year You Were Born products.
http://www.stphilipneri.org/teacher/dayiwasborn/
23. A Day in the Life of. Write about the day in the life of a real or literary character or
thing. (I.e. Slave, Roman soldier, Holocaust victim, mathematical formula, chemical
element)
24. Letter from famous or fictitious character. Letter should reveal events relating to
the character and time period. OR Use letters available online and write a response or
inquiry back to the historical letter (i.e. Smithsonian website has letters from Japanese-
American internee.
25. Primary Book. Students research a country, person, event, etc. and decide what
the most important information is and produce a primary book with that information. May
want to include popups, or flaps.
26. Diary of historical person or someone from the time period. Should have a
number of entries that reflect things happening in their life and in the world around them.
Science class picks a bacterial or viral disease and creates a fictitious diary that goes
from when they got the disease until they died from it. This is for someone living in the
1700’s or 1800’s and the diary should reflect the era and the medical technology or that
era.
27. World’s Fair. Students make decorated booths for a particular era or country.
(Gill St. Bernard’s school)
28. Travel Brochure. Can be made for a country, an unusual place (i.e. A planet,
inside an atom), or a literary location.
29. Crossword Puzzle.
http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/
http://www.edhelper.com/crossword.htm
http://www.awesomeclipartforkids.com/crossword/crosswordpuzzlemaker.html
30. Letter to a friend about meeting a famous person or being in a historical event.
31. Feature article for a magazine about a famous person real or imaginary. Can
include photos, artwork. Make the layout just as it would look in a magazine. Can include
a mockup of the magazine cover too. (i.e. Relative, Japanese internee, Rosie the
Riveter) Can be a ‘Zine’ (electronic magazine).
32. Compare and contrast 2 famous people. (Makes plagerism more difficult) (i.e...
Vlad the Impaller and Hitler; Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee)
33. Describe a new level of Dante’s Inferno/Hades, populated with current or
historical people and why.
34. Student innovative notebook/text book. Student writes a section of a text about a
specific event or person, with illustrations, review questions and vocabulary.

4. 35. Calendar. Create calendars on a topic (can use current year calendar) with
picture on top and calendar on bottom. Put important dates on the topic in appropriate
date boxes.
36. Letters to the government for a memorial or a new holiday. Background,
justification, possible design ideas, Name, Date, Colors, symbols, songs, Foods,
Traditions, Clothing.
37. Field guides each student makes 1 page for the guide. Show examples of Field
Guides. (ie. Field guide of Egyptian Gods, or Field Guide for Egyptian sites.
38. Tall Tales: Write a tall tale about how something happened. (i.e. How the Sphinx
lost its nose)
39. Rewrite a fairy tale. (i.e. Rewrite a favorite fairy tale to be set in ancient Egypt
with Egyptian gods and goddesses, pharaoh’s etc.)
40. Simple Reading Strategy to help in the classroom. This quick made flip book
example is fun and easy to make. Students can also help make the book as well.
http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=963d72757bdbedcaa203
41. Letters About Literature Contest. Students will write letters to an author, past or
present, explaining how his or her book impacted the student. Contest deadline is
December 12th, 2009; find more details here. http://coolwebak.hypermart.net/id3.html
42. Have a mock trial for a literary character, historical figure, novel, etc.
43. Construct and fill a box of memories for a literary character, historical figure, etc.
i.e. Ben Franklin – key, glasses, newspaper, stamps, Declaration of Independence,
travel guides for France and England, money, toy fire truck, wood for stove.
44. Literary Trip. Go to http://www.googlelittrips.org/ for examples of these trips and
then have students construct their own. This could also be done for things other than
literature like historical events, lives of famous people.
45. Advertise With Geography What makes a region? How can you tell the
differences between regions in the United States? How does geography affect a region's
products? These are some of the questions that students will explore, along with the
concepts behind advertising and how they are related to region.
http://www.iupui.edu/~geni/lsort/advertis.html
46. Make a time capsule for a time and place. Stuff it with things significant to the
era.
47. Informative Poster
48. Obituary for a famous person.
http://www.learnnc.org/lessons/KathyMurphy5232002105
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/20000207monday.html
School Library Media Activities Monthly, Jan. 2006, pg16-18
49. Information/activity card. Similar to a flash card.
50. Sales Pitch. Sell you idea to the delegates at the Constitutional Convention.
Develop a sales pitch for one of Thomas Edison’s inventions to give to manufacturer or
group of financial backers.
51. Design a new currency bill for a country that features an event or person. Give
rational for the bill to honor that subject.
52. Put a famous person in the classroom. What subject would that person teach and
what is the rational for that choice.
53. Dateline Troy. Take a story like the story of the Trojan War and find newspaper
articles that are similar to the story.
54. Career Brochure. Create a brochure that includes education, working conditions
& duties, salaries & job outlook, pros & cons for a career. Include a bibliography,
citations and visuals. This could also be used for historical jobs like pyramid laborer,
Roman centurion, etc.

5. 55. Invent a holiday. Promote a new holiday. Include what it commemorates and
why, what type of activities are appropriate. Create a poster or mural that illustrates the
holiday, write a poem or song.
56. Photo albums. Create a photo album for a person or event that includes photos
or illustrations and captions.
57. Make a timeline flip chart. Fold a length of paper in half (12”x18” construction
paper works well). Then fold lengthwise again the top and bottom halves. Open up so
the top half and bottom half meet at the first center fold line. Mark time along the meeting
point so that the earliest time is on the left side and the latest time is on the right. The
timeline runs along the long length of the construction paper. Cut the top flap a number
of times along the time line and do the same with the bottom flap. Under each flap
include information or an illustration matching the year on the outside of the flap.
58. Now and Then Chart. Comparison items can include items: toy or pastime,
sports, clothing, food, etc.
59. Minute biography. One sheet in length (1/2 sheet – 8 ½”x5 ½” – is good too).
Include one or two pictures or drawings. Paragraph one – provide facts about the
person; where he/she was born, went to school. Paragraph two- tells an interesting story
about the person, what makes them special, may tell about the pictures. Paragraph
three – write about their accomplishments so as to entice the audience to want to read
more.
60. Artifact project. Students contribute to a school Museum of World History. Create a
manmade artifact from a past historical period (i.e. Artwork, sculpture, architecture, tool,
clothing, jewelry). Create a display board to go with the object. A teacher in my school
requires 1 page explanation of the artifact, pictures, and five other events happening in
other parts of the world during that same time period. May also include a map showing
the location of the artifact and locations of the other events.
61. Have a classroom campaign for Poet Laureate complete with posters, campaign
slogans, and nomination speeches.
62. Create a colony brochure. Similar to a travel brochure but geared to starting a
colony and trying to attract people with various skills to your colony.
“After studying the 13 colonies, students were to create a brochure advertising
one of the colonies. The purpose of the brochure, they were told, would be to urge
people in Europe to come to America and settle in their particular colony. They worked in
groups of 2-3 and each group was assigned a different colony. The brochure had to
include a map, famous people of the colony, reasons why people would want to settle
there -- opportunities available for jobs, land, religious freedom, etc; cities settled, dates
of founding and settlement.” From http://www.teachers.net/lessons/posts/571.html
Other websites with similar ideas
http://www.nteq.com/LessonPlanner/view_lesson.asp?lesnumber=9696
http://wwwgen.bham.wednet.edu/colonbrochure.htm
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webquests/america/Works
heets/wholeword.doc.pdf
http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/~kbrooks6/
63. Postcard. A project in our school is a postcard from a country. On the front is a
student prepared illustration of something in or from that country. On the back is a note
from them that relates to the country. The social studies class incorporated a math in the
content project with this one that included measurement conversions between metric
and English systems.
64. Mock elections. This doesn’t have to be a political or U.S. presidential election.
Imagine Nicola Tesla and Thomas Edison each running for president of the Society of

6. Electrical Engineers. Students prepare campaign materials and speeches and have an
election. This is a good group project. After researching the candidates and issues that
would be appropriate for the organization, students can break up into individual jobs –
speech writer, election materials artist, candidate, coach for candidate, etc.)
65. Pack for the trip. Students plan what to take and the rational for an historical trip.
i.e. they’re a 19th century homesteader going to Oregon, a member of the Mayflower
settlers, Livingston or Stanley going to Africa, a knight going on a crusade.