The document outlines the goals, understandings, essential questions, and key knowledge and skills for a unit on national icons. The goals are for students to recognize, compare, and contrast icons from different cultures and understand how icons influence perceptions of a nation. Students should understand how icons represent and shape culture over time. They will consider questions about what makes someone an icon and how icons affect views of a nation. Students will learn about vocabulary, facts, attributes, and impacts of specific icons and be able to conduct research and communicate their findings using technology.