Curated OER
From Smithson To Smithsonian
Students evaluate a series of primary source documents. They Identify the variety of opinions regarding the use of Smithson's bequest and define the legislative compromise embodied in the Smithsonian Institution Act. They examine the...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Building a Sod House
Ready to be an early settler on the plains? While playing this interactive game, you'll get to build your own sod house ..if ..you have the right answers.
Smithsonian Institution
Encyclopedia Smithsonian: Paleoamerican Origins
This detailed article from the Encyclopedia Smithsonian lays out the theories and evidence of who were the earliest inhabitants of North and South America. Beginning with the traditional theory of migration using the land bridge, and...
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Joseph Henry Lays Groundwork for the Telephone
This is the man who most encouraged Bell to invent the telephone. Bell said, "But for Henry, I never would have gone ahead with the telephone." This is a fascinating account both of Bell's invention and of Henry's life. Half a biography,...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian: Creativity and Resistance: Maroon Cultures in Americas
An education resource guide based on an exhibit on the role of "Maroons," who were escaped slaves in Latin America who established communities with extensive cultural contacts. The guide includes activities which can be used in middle...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution Archives: Scopes Monkey Trial
Find previously unpublished photographs of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial that were found in the Smithsonian Archives. The photos include captions that explain the context.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of African Art: Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art
Explore the crafts that the African American culture exported from native African lands, basketry and cultivation of rice. With the lessons provided in the downloadable document, students will weave together history, geography, social...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution: Newsdesk
The Smithsonian Institution highlights recent news relating to museums, research centers, and other related programs.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Telling a Painting's Story
This Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies lesson plan features museum field trip writing activities. Upon returning from the museum, students will write stories inspired by paintings that they observed and evoked an...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian American Art Museum: Picturing the 1930s
Enter a virtual movie theater and learn about art of the 1930s in the United States. Exhibitions include: The Depression, The New Deal, The Country, Industry, Labor, The City, Leisure, and American People.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History: Arctic Science: Dna and the Peopling of Siberia
Scientists from the University of Arizona are conducting Y chromosome research on native Siberians to try to determine whether there is a genetic affinity to North American native people. The rationale and direction of this research are...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Separate Is Not Equal: White Only
This section from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's exhibition Separate Is Not Equal: Brown v. Board of Education gives the history of Jim Crow laws and how they affected not only the voting rights of...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Preparing for the Oath: u.s. History and Civics for Citizenship
This site from the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, is a great site for citizens and those learning to become citizens alike. Review the fifteen themes that deal with U.S. history and civics,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: America by Air: Early Commercial Aviation
Commercial airlines took flight soon after the Wright brothers' famous first flights. Read about how the U.S. government encouraged the development of air travel.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: America by Air:the Jet Age, 1958 Today
Learn about the changes that have occurred in commercial jet travel since 1958, when jet passenger service began in the United States.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Who Were Wilbur and Orville?
Classroom activities, interactive experiments, timelines, and other artifacts that celebrate the Wright brothers' first flight.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: Theodore Roosevelt: Icon of the American Century
A thorough examination of the life of Theodore Roosevelt and the people and events that influenced him. You'll find photographs of Roosevelt, as well as photos, paintings, and biographies of some influential people in Roosevelt's life.
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: The Presidency and the Cold War
View videos, photograph, and renderings of American presidents and their foreign counterparts in this image-rich examination of the post-World War II environment and the cold war that followed it. Includes a review of key foreign-policy...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: The Presidency and the Cold War: Dwight D. Eisenhower
This site from the National Portrait Gallery explores presidential actions during the Cold War. Click on Dwight D. Eisenhower to see how the Cold War was developing and being handled during his presidency. Find out about the Communist...
Smithsonian Institution
National Portrait Gallery: The Presidency and the Cold War: Franklin Roosevelt
This extensive site from the National Portrait Gallery explores presidential actions in relation to the Cold War from the Yalta Conference to the presidency of George H.W. Bush. Click on Franklin Roosevelt to find out about the decisions...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of the American Indian: Native Words: Code Talking
Learn how members of many Native American tribes became a vital part of America's efforts during World War I and World War II, divising codes that were never broken by the enemy. Includes examples of encoded words.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of the American Indian: Infinity of Nations
Learn about ten North and South American Native American nations by playing the Infinity of Nations Culture Quest game. Examine Native American crafts and artifacts that are part of Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian,...
Smithsonian Institution
National Postal Museum: Victory Mail
Learn all about "victory mail," the expedited wartime posting of letters written to and from soldiers serving in World War Two.
Smithsonian Institution
National Anthropological Archives: Lakota Winter Counts
A beautifully crafted site describing the passage of time by the Lakota known as Winter Counts. Site features winter count images and a Teachers' Guide.