Smithsonian's History Explorer Resources Related To "Life Cycle of the Poliovirus Animation"

FDR and Polio

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:29:22 GMT

When Franklin Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921, at age thirty-nine, it inspired his interest in medical philanthropy. Students will learn about his efforts in the fight against polio including the founding of the Warm Springs Foundation in Warm Springs, Georgia and the Birthday Ball fundraisers that later became the March of Dimes philanthropy. FDR and Polio is part of the online exhibition, Whatever Happened to Polio?

Got Ramps? Architectural Barriers Game

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:27:32 GMT

This activity will help students understand how polio affected the lives of Americans throughout the 20th century. Got Ramps? illustrates the changes in architectural barriers between 1955 and 2005, before and after the Architectural Barriers Act (1968) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990). Playing the part of a wheelchair user, students choose a postcard and make the decisions required to deliver it to the post office. They can then email the virtual postcard to someone that they know. This game is part of the online exhibition, Whatever Happened to Polio?

Whatever Happened to Polio? Homepage

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:30:04 GMT

This website uses images, artifacts, oral histories and interactive resources to tell the story of the polio epidemics in the United States and the struggle to find a vaccination to prevent them. The exhibition is divided into four parts covering the effects of polio on communities, families and medicine, the social, scientific and medical legacies of the disease, how the virus works and how a vaccine was developed, and the state of the global campaign to eradicate polio today. This exhibition will help students learn the important connections between science and history.

Understanding Historical Photos

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:28:51 GMT

This resource will help students understand how to analyze historical photos to better understand the intentions of those who took them. Every photograph is both truthful and deceptive. These images were selected to illustrate some of the intricacies in reading historical photographs. This activity is included in the online exhibition entitled Whatever Happened to Polio?