Many teachers now understand that video games (and other technology) can help encourage high levels of learning. Attendees at this workshop will find out what Steven Johnson, John Beck, Marc Prensky, and James Paul Gee are saying about the use of video games as teaching and learning tools. There are plenty of resources to help educators begin to integrate PlayStation, XBox, GameCube, PC games, and other types of video games into the classroom.

Students often struggle to understand the increasingly complex content and vocabulary presented in social studies. Frustrated teachers often feel that it is easier to just cover the information presented instead of working to help students make meaningful connections. Effective strategies increase students learning and build scores on standardized social studies reading and writing tests. This workshop will share successful strategies that target the unique features and constructions of social studies texts as well as other forms of nonfiction and fiction. Handouts and materials provided can be used immediately to modify social studies instruction.

From the beginning to the expert teacher, using technology as part of social studies instruction in the 21st century is essential. K–12 students use cell phones, the internet, video games, and many other forms of technology. To maintain relevance in the lives of those students, classroom instruction needs to include not only social studies content but 21st-century tools and skills. This workshop will showcase content-specific websites and technology examples that educators can use right away.

This workshop guides educators through a curriculum planning process—pre-, during, and post-visit—designed to maximize interdisciplinary learning experiences for students using the art museum/gallery field trip as a resource. Participants will discuss and develop effective motivational- and critical-thinking teaching techniques to prepare students for a unique learning experience with original works of art. The program seeks to provide a useful framework for designing interdisciplinary art lessons linked to viewing original works of art in a gallery/museum setting.

Google Earth lets users see the world around them in brand new ways. Users can travel to the Great Pyramids, analyze live earthquake data, compare before and after images of deforestation, or integrate literature and social studies. But how best can educators use it to improve learning? In this workshop, participants will spend the day learning how to use the Google Earth interface, exploring its capabilities, adapting existing Google Earth tours, and creating a few of their own.

For Native people, identity—who you are, how you dress, what you think, and how you see yourself in the world—has been shaped by many factors. This workshop reveals Native people in the 21st century whose stories reflect the deliberate and often difficult choices made to save languages from extinction, preserve cultural integrity, and keep traditional arts.

This professional development opportunity will bring Texas teachers together with leading scholars to explore important constitutional issues in our nation's history. The program offers teachers the opportunity to work with leading scholars of U.S. history, political science, and law and share strategies for teaching with primary sources.

Participants celebrate Women's History Month at the National Museum of Women in the Arts by discovering ways its collection can be a resource for integrating the arts—and women artists—into the classroom. Through interactive gallery discussions and activities, participants will explore techniques for discussing and interpreting art with their students.

This multi-date residential institute introduces teachers to the intertwined issues of genocide and human rights. In the late spring participants will be sent a series of extensive text, article, and resource readings. Participants will begin the residential sessions by defining the terms and learning about the philosophical and historical antecedents and common characteristics of genocides and human rights violations. The seminar will then turn toward exploring the historical, political, sociological/anthropological, and contemporary dimensions of genocide and human rights by focusing on the causes, courses, and consequences of the events. The case studies include: Armenia, the Holocaust, Ukrainian famine-genocide, Cambodian, Cyprus, El Salvador, Iraq, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan genocidal episodes. Other examples that will be integrated and considered include the Irish famine, the indigenous peoples of the Americas, and the current status of human rights throughout the world.

The institute will also include a series of sessions on how to approach these subjects in the classroom, from the elementary to the high school level. Significant attention will be devoted to the complex methodological issues underlying the presentation of genocide in the classroom including the selection of teaching materials (secondary readings, primary sources, and documentary and entertainment films). Then participants will undertake the sharing of lesson plans developed as a part of the institute's program before concluding with a series of final sessions and considerations on the future prevention of genocide and an activist engagement with the subject.

As an ongoing part of the Institute and its mission, past participants and faculty will continue to function as a cohort after the institute is over by sharing completed lesson plans, developing additional curricular materials, and undertaking educational and public outreach programming.