Join the National Museum of American History's for an online exploration into key social studies topics, highlighting museum resources from the Smithsonian. This series features museum educators and curators from different Smithsonian museums. Each video is about 30-60 minutes.

We will host a panel discussion connecting stories of teenagers in the past fighting to address systemic injustice to those of the present. The 2020 annual summit will be centered on the case study of Claudette Colvin—a 15-year-old Black student in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Colvin refused to g

Explore a local train-related site with safety and discussion tips for kids and families. Part of an OurStory module entitled All Aboard the Train!, this activity includes strategies for selecting a train-related field trip in your area (such as train stations, train tracks, or train mus

In these electronic field trips produced by the National Museum of American History, viewers are given a 20 minute tour by the curators of the exhibition Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education, followed by a 30 minute videotaped question and answer session about the Brown v. Board of

This activity will encourage children to look for math in their everyday activities, and introduce science concepts behind the game of baseball. In this activity, students will use discussion prompts to make the most of their visit. This activity is part of an OurStory module entitled Life in

This lesson will help students become aware of, and sensitive to, the Japanese American internment camp experience. By creating a list of things that are important and familiar to them and then choosing what they will take and leave behind, students will develop a sense of empathy by simulating s

Was Francis Scott Key a good poet? In this classroom activity, students will analyze  "The Star-Spangled Banner" for Key's use of poetic devices. They will then express the meaning of "The Star-Spangled Banner" national anthem in their own words and write their own poetry in relation to the

This lesson will help students identify with the experiences of camp internees during World War II. Students will be divided into four-member "family" groups that are to be relocated to an internment camp. They will then read two sections of the online exhibition entitled A More Perfect Union

In this classroom activity, students will identify the purpose and goals of education in American society and explain why African Americans chose to challenge segregated education in their quest for equality.  This lesson is part of the online exhibition entitled

Field trips to memorials are great ways to learn about how communities remember important events.  In this activity, students will do a digital field trip to learn more about the Pentagon’s memorial for September 11,2001,  and then visit a local memorial. Part of an OurStory module en