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Welcome, Let's Do History!

Thank you for using Smithsonian's History Explorer! This page is designed to help you navigate the site and to provide you with additional teaching supports through our primary source guide, poster, blog posts, and information about the Museum's teacher professional development opportunities.

Tips for Using History Explorer

History Explorer is a full-featured search of all the educational resources from the National Museum of American History. For tutorials, tips for searching, and advice on subscribing to RSS feeds, visit How to Use this Site .

Guides to Teaching with Primary Sources

Engaging Students with Primary Sources , a guide for teachers, includes brief introductions to using documents, photographs, oral histories, and objects for classroom learning. The guide includes student handouts, sample lessons, recommendations for finding primary sources by type, and more support materials for teachers.

If You Walked in My Shoes  This teaching poster introduces students to the who, what, where, when, why, and how of object investigation and the personal stories in history through six pairs of shoes in the Museum's collection. 

Looking at Artifacts, Thinking About History , an essay developed for   The Object of History , a partnership between the National Museum of American History and the George Mason Center for History and New Media, was written by Museum curators and introduces teachers to the variety of stories objects can tell. The site includes links to other resources for interpreting primary sources. 

Archived Webinars

View 30 minutes archived webinars where we highlight key resources from the Museum’s online materials.  

Podcasts Hear ideas for using the History Explorer podcast series in your secondary classroom. The series is designed for students in grades 6 and up and provides 10-20 minute interviews with museum experts and first person perspectives on important events in American history, as well as behind the scenes views of artifacts in the collection. Visit https://americanhistory.si.edu/podcasts to preview materials.

Civil War  Join us for an overview of the best of our Civil War online materials and a preview of resources in development. Designed for teachers of grades 5-8.

OurStory and Summer Learning Join us to explore resources to support children’s learning through the summer. Designed for elementary teachers and parents of children in grades K-4.

Star-Spangled 200 In honor of the bicentennial of the national anthem and just in time for Flag Day, join us to find resources for teaching about the Star-Spangled Banner and learn how to participate in the Raise it Up! Anthem for America project, the largest simultaneous singing of a national anthem in history. Designed for teachers of grades 3-8.

C3 Framework  Lead inquiry-based education throughout the school year using the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework! In this webinar, we will examine the Museum’s best resources for teaching the inquiry arc in the C3. Designed for secondary teachers.

Research for National History Day Are you and your students gearing up for this year’s National History Day competition? Find tips on searching for primary materials from the Smithsonian, podcasts, blog posts, and other resources that students can use to learn about the historian's craft.

Additional Professional Development Opportunities

• Achieving the C3:An Exploration into 21st Century Social Studies with Dr. Kathy Swan of the University of Kentucky and Lead Writer of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies. 

Or, find additional online resources on the following topics:

• Diplomacy in Action: Practicing Diplomacy from Early America to the Present
• Explore with Smithsonian Experts
• Abraham Lincoln

Suggestions for Planning a Visit

    Are you bringing your class to the National Museum of American History? Consider     using the materials you find on History Explorer as pre- or post-visit activities, and     take a look at our Plan Your Visit page for tips and details on events at the Museum. 

Staying in Touch

We love hearing from teachers, so be sure to keep in touch! You can find us...

On Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube

• Use the links above or at the bottom of the page to find the History Explorer team and the National Museum of American History on our social media channels. 
• Sign up for our email newsletter or send us a message at [email protected]  with comments, suggetions for new resources, or questions about our materials!

From the Blog: Teaching & Learning

Educator Musings

• Dear Mr. Weingarten
• The Time Trial of Andrew Jackson
• Teaching Constitution Day
• Essential questions for teaching September 11
• Treasure hunting
• Doing history

Interdisciplinary Teaching

• Using objects with English language learners
• Is this on the test?
• Teaching with drama

Teaching with Technology

• History in 140 characters
• Teaching in a digital classroom

Family Connections

• Want to change your seven-year-old's life?
• Summertime...and the learning is easy
• Plan Your Visit

Bringing your class to the museum?

Plan your trip here

Support for Smithsonian's History Explorer is provided by the Verizon Foundation

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