As COVID-19 deaths spiked in 2020, Suzanne Firstenberg’s public art installation "In America: How could this happen…"
Lessons & Activities
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Date Posted:
1/22/2011
In these classroom activities, developed for the exhibition America on the Move, students will use visual, analytical, and interpretive skills to examine primary sources including a historical map and answer questions about them to learn more about global consumption, productio
Grade Range:
9-12
Resource Type(s):
Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
8/31/2012
Discuss the story of the Dust Bowl through images from photographer Arthur Rothstein, through song with Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl ballads, and through text writings from President Roosevelt and farmer Caroline Henderson. Then, challenge students to consider modern environmental issues with
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
8/31/2010
This site from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum provides links to all of the educational materials from the museum, including commemorative materials for students in upper elementary grades through high school, which focus on ways people chose to respond to 9/11 through art; two shor
Grade Range:
9-12
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
11/11/2009
This activity challenges students to think about the 1898 Standard Voting Machine and the democratization of the voting process in the United States. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects and three lesson plans focused on th
Grade Range:
9-12
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
11/2/2009
This resource includes an introductory essay entitled Looking at Artifacts, Thinking about History, 6 sections that each focus on an object from the collections of the Museum, an archive of curator commentary, and an online tool with which students can create virtual exhibits. Also inclu
Grade Range:
9-12
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials, Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
7/7/2008
In this online reference page, students can learn how public transportation shaped the development of Chicago. This resource is included in the online exhibition entitled America on the Move, which focuses on transportation in US history.
Grade Range:
5-12
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
4/16/2018
#MyFellowCitizens asks students to think critically about what good citizenship means to them.
The learning begins with the guiding question: What does it mean to be a good citizen? Students investigate this question by looking at the Naturalization O
Grade Range:
3-8
Resource Type(s):
Reference Materials, Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
11/19/2008
Using this classroom activity, students will be able to cite the origins and outcome of the War of 1812 and be able to place the creation of the Star-Spangled Banner in a chronological framework. The activity includes a narrative about the war of 1812 and the history of the Star-Spangled Banner,
Grade Range:
6-8
Resource Type(s):
Primary Sources, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets
Date Posted:
9/12/2009
In this activity, one of three on the Bracero Archive website, students will examine an oral history related to the Bracero worker program and present their research on a map.
The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is part of a consortium of m
Grade Range:
K-12
Resource Type(s):
Lessons & Activities
Date Posted:
8/2/2016
Grab Bag Inventing is an activity that allows participants to try playful inventing and helps them recognize their own creative abilities. Participants work together in small groups to design inventions using common materials.
