This teacher's resource challenges students to think about the gold nugget that began the California gold rush as a valuable resource for understanding westward expansion and the idea of Manifest Destiny. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing hi

This object-based learning activity revolves around a dress that connects the lives of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckley, a popular African-American dressmaker who lived in Washington, D.C at the time of the Civil War. Students will learn how one object can tell many different stories.

This object-based learning activity revolves around the short-handled hoe, the bracero program, Cesar Chavez and the organizing of Latino farm workers in the American southwest after World War II. Students will learn about the role of Mexican guest workers in American agricultural histo

This object-based learning activity revolves around an 1898 Standard Voting Machine, the fight against voting fraud and the extension of voting rights in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Students will learn how voting technology was used to democratize the voting process in the

This object-based learning activity revolves around the gold nugget that began the California gold rush. In this resource, students will learn how examining the gold nugget can help them understand the story of the gold rush and its importance to the story of westward expansion. After explor

This teacher resource challenges students to think about the Jefferson desk and the Declaration of Independence as objects that are valuable sources of historical information. It includes a preliminary activity intended to introduce students to doing history with objects a

Scientists have had to record their observations in different ways throughout time. Use Google Sky to explore the sky, then share your observations through sketches and figurative language.  Included in an OurStory module from Smithsonian's National Museum of American History entitled Ex

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

This interactive Web site from Plimoth Plantation, a Smithsonian Affiliate, focuses on clarifying fact and fiction surrounding the "First Thanksgiving." Students use audio from Plimoth Plantation historians, images of artifacts, and a glossary to answer questions and explore the lives of the Wama

This activity is a guided Internet hunt, or "Web quest," in which children play the role of newspaper reporters in order to research, write, and publish an article about the history of the Star-Spangled Banner. Children will be better able to synthesize ideas and facts in written and artistic pro