The Project Mine Consortium is comprised of a unique network of five rural local education agencies, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center-Greenbush, Pittsburg State University, and the Big Brutus Museum. Project Mine proposes to establish a results-based model of professional development; create a multidisciplinary network of teachers, historians, and community members; train teachers to effectively integrate technology; and instill a commitment of teachers and students to preserve local, regional, and national history. By actively involving students in the learning process through the use of project-based learning strategies, hand-held computer technology, Internet, and local archival data that connect the story of coal mining with the social, cultural, political, and environmental fabric of American history, teachers will integrate powerful instructional strategies into history instruction.