When young people think about history, they often forget that members of the society around them have played an active part in past events. You can ask your students to interview elderly members of their family or their community and write short biographies about them. The biographies should include questions about how the interviewees were affected by key events, including wars, assassinations or major technological breakthroughs. The students can illustrate their papers with photographs and drawings.
Slavery is a suggested topic in the eighth grade lesson plans. To bring the issue closer to home, you can ask your students to investigate the local history and use of slaves in their community. Most cities and towns have at least one local historian or museum curator who might be willing to assist by lecturing the students. Give some incentives for the project, which can include finding sites of local slave auctions, determining the origin of the slaves in the area or studying the effect the slave trade had on the area's development. Ask the students to document their findings by using pictures, quotes, references and footnotes.
Have the students pretend to be war correspondents at the time of the American Civil War. They can choose the medium -- perhaps a written project, a video report or a radio report. They have to decide which side they are on and which battle or other aspect of the war they want to cover. You can give the student some indication where to look for information, including online resources, local museums, available literature or age-appropriate movies and documentaries. While avoiding gory details, battle accounts should include names and introductions of notable figures in the conflict, fatality numbers during battle and descriptions of the area.
Investigate the history of Native Americans and challenge the students' thinking skills by asking them to look at colonization from the Indians' point of view. The project should involve the study of historical maps so that students can trace the reduction of the Indian territories throughout the colonial period. If possible, include field trips to notable Native American sites, museums or reservations. To bring the topic closer, arrange for live meetings or Internet video conferences with eighth-grade students from Native American reservations so that the students can interview their peers and discuss sentiments between the groups.