This animated presentation from The Map as History visualizes the domino effect of alliances that led Europe and the U.S. into World War I, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
This animated presentation from The Map as History visualizes the reshaping of Europe at the end of World War I, looking at the shifts in the boundaries of countries and the creation of others.
This animated presentation from The Map as History follows the expansion of World War II into a global war. Tracing the war on world maps, it looks at Germany's invasion of Russia and of North Africa—and at the U.S.'s entrance into war with Japan in the Pacific.
This animated presentation from The Map as History follows the escalation of Germany's persecution and execution of Jews during World War II as it spread across Germany's European conquests. The locations of each ghetto, prison and execution camp, and deportation route are marked as they are discussed.
From the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website:
"How did the Apollo program intersect with the whirling social and political climate of the 1960s and early 1970s? Three presidential administrations oversaw the Apollo space program, and each reacted in a different way. Senior curator Roger Launius will focus on the myth of presidential leadership during this time period and will provide context to the political challenges NASA faced with the failure of Apollo I. Curators Allan Needell and Margaret Weitekamp will discuss the fascinating intersections of Ralph Abernathy, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Moon landing and will analyze several political cartoons from the period."
This 28-minute mini-documentary, intended for 11th and 12th grade students, focuses on the stories of young people who took part in the civil rights movement protests of the 1950s and the 1960s. It begins with the story of the Little Rock Nine, the first African American students to attend Central High School, AR, following Brown v. Board of Education; continues with interviews with people who participated in the movement as children and teenagers; and ends with present-day examples of struggles for civil rights.
Curriculum to complement the video is available at the same URL as the video, below.
The project's high-need southeast Wyoming districts serve a largely rural and growing migrant population in a geographic area of more than 16,000 square miles, so one goal is to define a professional development model that meets the needs of rural schools. Activities will include two 4-week instructional modules and two document-based question workshops during the school year; in the summer, teachers will be involved in a 10-day field excursion and a 1-week curriculum workshop, during which they will develop lesson plans. Teachers can participate in a single year of the program, then choose to continue for an additional year or two; the cadre will include approximately 40 teachers each year, some new and some continuing. As they learn to think like historians, teachers will study decisions and actions of specific people—government and military leaders, soldiers, tribal leaders, businessmen and everyday citizens—whose choices changed the outcome of history. Strategies will include historical inquiry skills, with a significant focus on document-based questioning, and strategies to help students develop critical reading, thinking and writing skills. The Center for History and New Media will lead training on teaching history in the digital age, introducing digital research libraries and multimedia technologies. Graduate credits will be available for completion of certain activities. Teams of teachers will collaborate to produce and implement classroom curricula; these and other materials (e.g., hands-on simulations, games, how-to seminars, distance learning materials) will be available to other teachers through a Web site and participant-led peer workshops.
Two of these southern Washington state districts collaborated on a previous Teaching American History grant; it was so successful that teachers on a waiting list made it clear that extending the project—and involving another district—would have value. Each year, teachers will attend seven full-day symposia of scholarly lectures and lesson modeling. In monthly study groups, teachers from all three districts will work as a learning community to solve problems, reflect on practice and conduct lesson study. During a 5-day summer field study, teachers will work directly with historians, archivists and curators at local and regional sites. Five 1-year cohorts of 25 teachers will participate; teachers will be those who need to reach highly qualified status or who come from the lowest performing schools. The project theme of "Towards a More Perfect Union" will guide the exploration of civil rights throughout U.S. history. The Concerns-Based Adoption Model will be the overarching framework for more than 100 hours of annual professional development. Led by expert historians and master history educators, teachers will learn History Habits of Mind and study traditional American history by addressing essential questions about the ideals of democracy, liberty and equality. To promote a culture of instructional excellence and collegiality, project staff will introduce professional learning communities, lesson study and one-on-one mentoring/coaching by teachers who participated in the previous grant. All state teachers will have access to project-created products, including standards-based lesson plans and assessments, activities based on historical texts, in-service units for future use, and classroom kits that incorporate history and archeology for hands-on experiences.
This district north of Seattle has seen a shift in demographics in recent years. Today, about 30 percent of students come from families in poverty, 13 percent receive special education services and the number of bilingual students has jumped; these factors all contribute to achievement gaps. Each project year will begin with a 3-day summer kickoff session led by experts and historians; it will be followed by 11 full-day in-service workshops that will include lectures and book discussions with guest historians, intensive content learning and pedagogical training, and grade-level group meetings to conduct lesson study. The initial cohort of 35 teachers will participate in Years 1 to 3, and a new cohort of 20 will participate in Years 4 and 5; this second cohort will be mentored by 10 members of the first cohort. The course of study will address two essential questions: (1) What is the role of the citizen in democracy? (2) What is the experience of the citizen in society? While exploring these questions, the content strand will focus on traditional American history, paying attention to state standards for appropriate grade levels. The pedagogical strand will focus on six teaching methods related to the use of primary sources, historical thinking and communication. Using Response to Intervention and the Lesson Study process, teachers will develop lessons, assessments and other resources.
Teacher-generated lessons and materials as well as videos of cohort teachers using best practices will be published on three Web sites and publicized through professional conferences.
In these Tennessee districts, most students have demonstrated low achievement in social studies and U.S. history, and the history teachers do not have access to content-related professional development. Each year of the project, teachers will participate in four mini-institutes that provide historical thinking themes, such as perspective and sequencing. One of the institutes will feature a keynote presentation on different strategies, including using film or art in teaching. Teachers will attend a 2-day institute that includes visits to local sites and focus groups on various strategies, such as technology, use of student achievement data and National History Day. Hands-on learning experiences will be provided through summer institutes in Boston, Washington, D.C., and additional locations. The teachers will be paired in cohorts of 4th/8th grades and 5th/11th grades. The teachers will learn about founding documents, primary sources, local history resources, technology tools, National History Day and other research-based teaching strategies. A Web site will host the project's products, including videos of historian presentations using integrated hands-on activities, footage of teachers modeling proven teaching strategies and teacher-created materials, such as piloted lesson plans and primary source document readers organized by themes, eras and grade levels.