This institute invites educators from across the country to learn about Abraham Lincoln through the Library of Congress's primary and web-based materials. Participants will leave with strategies and materials they can use in their schools. The institute uses the Library's exhibition "With Malice Toward None: The Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Exhibition" as its foundation.

To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, in collaboration with the Scottish government as part of its Homecoming Scotland 2009 celebration, presents a free public symposium on Burns's life and work, as well as his impact on America and American culture.

What are the goals of hands on learning? How do museum educators come up with activity ideas? How do they test ideas to make sure things work, and what happens when something fails?

Visitors will see prototypes and finished "products" of activities used successfully in Spark!Lab, and then will have the opportunity to prototype and give feedback on a new activity under development.

This month's prototyping activity is on electrical history. This is being developed to allow visitors to explore electrical science via the works of inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (1856–1943). Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of many modern technologies now taken for granted, including fluorescent and neon lighting, automation, radio-controlled toys and guided missiles, and wireless transmissions that earned him the name "father of radio."

This all-day Lincoln symposium celebrates the 148th anniversary of Lincoln's first inauguration and features six award-winning scholars: William Lee Miller, on presidential morality during the Lincoln administration; James M. McPherson, on Lincoln as commander-in-chief; Douglas L. Wilson, on Lincoln and the power of words; Lucas Morel, on Lincoln and race; Harold Holzer, on Lincoln as President-elect; and Elizabeth D. Leonard, on Lincoln and justice.

The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center is offering a one-day training seminar to examine how educators can use collections to enrich classroom experience. Young children are natural-born collectors. Toys, dolls, coins, or nature's treasures such as rocks and shells appeal to young children and help them understand the world around them. Educators can develop this innate curiosity by creating collections and exhibits that combine literature, art, and objects to introduce children to the magic of museums. Through hands-on experiences and museum visits, this one-day seminar will show educators how to use collections to help children develop skills to sort, classify, observe, and analyze. Participants will learn to enhance their teaching by developing collections that incorporate math, science, history, and language arts.

The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center is offering an innovative training program for museum professionals and early childhood educators interested in using objects to teach young children. Participants will learn how a host of museum objects—including paintings, sculptures, an African headrest, and an old-time chestnut roaster—can help children, as young as two or three, understand their world. The program, featuring hands-on exercises with museum objects, lectures, discussions, and gallery experiences, is designed to help museum educators forge more creative encounters with young museum-goers, and to introduce early childhood educators to the magic of museums. Participants will be encouraged to think expansively about using children's literature, art, and objects to create explorations of thematic topics. By tapping resources in their own communities—resources such as objects in local museums and community centers, statues, public art, bridges, buildings, and more, participants learn to bring the world of museums to young children in their communities.

The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center offers a morning seminar to examine how educators can enrich infant and toddler programs with art and objects. Very young children thrive in an environment that is rich in exposure to everyday objects, stories, and visual images. Age-appropriate books, art prints and objects can appeal to infants and toddlers and help them to understand the world around them. Participants in this seminar will learn how to develop this innate curiosity by creating an environment that supports arts-rich learning in the classroom as they nurture the growth of each child. They will learn how to choose exhibits, have successful outings, and build a classroom community that parents, teachers, and children will love.