From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:

"The Cold War dominated the second half of the twentieth century, but until recently we had only an imperfect sense of what it was all about. Historians wrote about it, of necessity, from within the event they were seeking to describe, so that there was no way to know its outcome. And because only a few Western countries had begun to open their archives, these accounts could only reflect one side of the story. Cold War history, hence, was not normal history: it was both asymmetrical and incomplete.

The end of the Cold War and the subsequent partial opening of Soviet, Eastern European, and Chinese archives have revolutionized the field. Everything we thought we knew is suddenly up for reconsideration, whether because of the new documents available to us, or as a consequence of knowing how it all came out. Even as this happens, though, the memories of those who lived through the Cold War are rapidly fading, and a new generation of students has no memory of it at all.

This seminar will seek to integrate the latest scholarly research on Cold War history and the ways in which that subject is presented in the classroom. We shall use a variety of means: lectures, books, documents, video documentaries, and the resources of the world-wide web. There will also be ample opportunity, we hope, for you to learn from one another, and for us to learn from you. It will be, in short, a week of total immersion in the lengthy, occasionally dangerous, and (almost) always intriguing history of the Cold War, filled with debate and new information."

From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:

"This seminar will explore a controversial era shrouded in myths and memories. Among the topics it will examine are the presidencies of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon; the civil rights movement; the Vietnam War; the New Left; the counterculture; the women's movement; the gay movement; the conservative movement; the international dimension of youth protest; and the legacies of the 1960s. The aim of the seminar is to provide a balanced history of a turbulent time that continues to influence American politics, society, and culture.

From Indiana University's website:

"Our NEH summer institute will enhance your teaching curriculum with respect to modern American social movements in a number of ways. Most fundamentally, the institute will help you understand the pivotal role that social movements have played in changing public policy in the United States over the last century. Moreover, the institute will acquaint you with the latest scholarship on these three social movements—labor, civil rights, and feminism—which you are unlikely to have encountered in your teacher training. Recent historical scholarship reveals at least three general ways to enhance these topics for your secondary school students. First, historians now emphasize the diversity and complexity of each of these movements. In each case, a variety of sometimes conflicting organizations, perspectives, and leaders made up each movement. And yet teaching tends to focus only on the dominant current within each movement. Second, the interconnections between these three movements have received renewed attention. Historians are finding more and more ways in which these movements cross-fertilized each other, but the connections are often missed by teachers. For instance, recent scholarship on Betty Friedan, the central founder of the National Organization for Women has found that her work for CIO unions like the United Electrical Workers during the 1940s was a formative experience for the development of her feminist ideas. Third, social movement scholarship has taken note of the extent to which each of these movements faced organized resistance. It is easy for young people today to forget that as reasonable as Martin Luther King, Jr. may seem to us today, in his own day he was viewed as a dangerous agitator."

From the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History:

"This seminar explores the rise of Jim Crow in the United States and tracks it forward to its modern post-civil rights manifestations. Seminar participants will work with a range of primary sources to interpret the shifting social, economic, political, psychological, and cultural trauma associated with this set of racial practices. Close attention will be paid to the effects of Jim Crow on both sides of the color line."

From the Facing History and Ourselves website:

"Please join us as we explore the Facing History and Ourselves resource book, Choices in Little Rock—a collection of teaching suggestions, activities, and primary sources that focus on the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957. These efforts led to a crisis that historian Taylor Branch once described as 'the most severe test of the Constitution since the Civil War.'

These resources explore a range of civic choices—the decisions people make as citizens in a democracy. Those decisions, both then and now, reveal that democracy is not a product but a work in progress, a work that is shaped in every generation by the choices that we make about ourselves and others. In this workshop, we will consider ways to engage students in the issues raised by this history and its civic implications for their lives today.

Choices in Little Rock can be used not only to teach history but also to deepen and enrich a study of civics, government, and literature."

From a NASA Digital Learning Network mailing:

"During the week of November 16th-20th, students in grades K-8th are invited to re-discover the remarkable accomplishment of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

Forty years have passed since this momentous event and to celebrate, NASA's Digital Learning Network (DLN) will deliver a daily videoconference that will explore a single NASA center's contribution to Apollo 11. These programs will also feature an in-studio NASA employee who had a special connection with Apollo 11. Student participation and interaction with the DLN host and NASA expert is assured!

Would you like to challenge your students to exercise their bodies and minds? The DLN has designed a fun activity that incorporates fitness and math! Walk to the Moon encourages students to count their steps around their homes and schools in order to reach a goal of 250,000 steps. Each step will be equal to one mile. With approximately 250,000 miles between the Earth and the Moon, your students will "walk" to the moon! Students may chart their progress individually or in groups - the choice is yours. Either way, the DLN would like to hear about your class' journey! Please email your results to jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov, and you may hear your students' stories LIVE during the DLN's week-long special event in November!

Please note there will be a global flair to this weeklong event as students from various nations around the world will be selected to join and participate!
Descriptions of each event are as follows:
Note: All programs are scheduled to begin at 12:00 CST and end at 1:00 CST

Langley Research Center- Nov. 16
Learn how a young engineer convinced his boss that landing on the Moon would only be possible if something called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous was used as the passageway to the Moon.

Marshall Spaceflight Center - Nov. 17
Learn how a rocket taller than the Statue of Liberty was constructed for peaceful space exploration and why its presence tipped the scale of the space race in the America's favor.

Kennedy Space Center- Nov. 18
Discover America's spaceport, the site where the Apollo 11 astronauts made their final preparations before counting down to the launch of the fastest vehicle human beings have ever ridden in- the Saturn V rocket.

Johnson Space Center- Nov. 19
Learn more about the home of the astronaut corps and take a peek inside the Mission Control Center, where a room called the "FCR 2" was the setting for communicating with Neil, Buzz, and Michael as they zoomed towards the Moon.

Ames Research Center- Nov. 20
Traveling to the Moon once again is expected to take place in the next decade. Learn how this will take place through a new NASA program called Constellation.

Registration
To participate in this program, your school must have videoconferencing capabilities. For more information on technical requirements go to: http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/content/techinfo/

If you would like to be placed on the "we're interested" list for this free program, please reply to jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov. Please respond no later than close of business, October 14. We will contact you soon as a possible participant. We hope you will be able to join us!

The subject line must be: Apollo 11 40th Anniversary
Please send the following information:
Your name:
Your work email:
Your work telephone number:
Your school's name:
Your school's city:
Your school's state:
Your school's technical point of contact:
Technical POC's work telephone:
Technical POC's work email:
Student grade levels:
Anticipated number of participating students:
Date/time of preferred participation:

Thank you,
NASA Digital Learning Network
jsc-dislearn@mail.nasa.gov"

From a Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center flyer:

"This free event will feature food, adult beverages, IMAX Movies, liquid oxygen ice cream and more. We'll have great prizes for drawings all night long."

For more on the Cosmosphere, try the NHEC's Museums and Historic Sites listing.

From the Facing History and Ourselves workshop:

"Educators planning to tour the [Choosing to Participate] exhibition are encouraged to attend this workshop to help deepen their students' experience through the exploration of content and related themes."

From the Facing History and Ourselves website:

"This is a two-day workshop for BPS teachers who will be teaching the Civil Rights Movement in their 10th grade US History courses. The workshop will focus on three units: The Murder of Emmett Till, Voting Rights: From Selma to Montgomery, and Desegregation of Boston Schools."