With the 250th anniversary of the United States coming next year, teachers will want to start planning lessons now to mark this semiquincentennial. The Smithsonian offers free instructional tools and ideas for teachers, and several will be highlighted at its fifth annual National Education Summit from July 15 to 17, with the theme, “Together We Thrive: One Nation, Indivisible.” Virtually and in-person, classroom teachers, school administrators, museum educators and librarians will gather during this free summit to learn about transferable ideas, resources and strategies from education experts from Smithsonian museums and research centers, alongside classroom teachers, museum leaders and other partners.
Sessions will highlight moments in US history that continue to have an impact today and into the future, including “Many Voices, One Nation,” “Power of Place,” “Dialogues Across Past, Present and Future” and “Transformative Teaching Tools.” One summit session features leaders from Smithsonian Affiliations, History Colorado, The Huntington (Calif.) and the Irving Archives and Museum in Texas sharing how they are marking the anniversary beyond the 13 original Colonies and connecting national stories to their own community’s story.
The Smithsonian lets teachers easily reflect upon milestones in American history and engage in learning strategies such as object-based learning and inquiry-based approaches. The summit spotlights innovative ways for engaging learners of all ages, from iconic stories from objects like the desk on which Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence to artist Nam June Paik’s more contemporary video installation with neon lighting of a map of the US, as well as music-integrated lessons and authentic learning tasks using data,
Transferable ideas for yielding high engagement
Educators can expect to get tangible and intangible takeaways that will inspire them in the year ahead. Teachers can create their own agenda by filtering the 40 sessions by grade level, subject area and thematic session track. But the Smithsonian’s education staff offers these suggestions for using the summit to deepen engagement.
- To extend authentic tasks to your learners: “StarGlass, Starlight and Stellar Achievements” offers a historical and STEM-focused approach. It highlights telescope images captured on glass plates and read by astronomers of the 18th and 19th centuries, known as “women computers,” to today’s innovative technologies via Smithsonian DataLabs. These DataLabs offer opportunities for making sense of the same types of astronomical data.
- To open opportunities for creativity: “Digital Storytelling for Classroom Engagement” offers practical examples of how learners can produce 2- to 3-minute, first-person videos on their perspectives and reflections on America’s 250th anniversary. Additionally, don’t “Empowering Inventive Identities With Future-Ready Skills,” highlights hands-on, open-ended invention challenges and inquiry-based facilitation strategies.
- To leverage music to tie subjects together: “Unleash the Power of Music Across Subject Areas” demonstrates ways to engage students and make historical events more relatable and memorable through a lesson series called Folkways Learning Pathways.
- To spotlight media that’s easily scaffolded: PBS LearningMedia will preview media clips from “The American Revolution” documentary and show how they can be used with elementary- and middle-school students to highlight personal narratives of near-peers of the era. Additionally, “Time and World Travel: Tapping Nonfiction to Increase Student Engagement” from the National Council of Teachers of English brings together world-class digital resources to expand the role of non-fiction in the classroom.
- To amplify student voice and encourage discussions among peers: “Engaging Teens in Civic Discourse With the National Youth Summit” explores strategies for engaging in civic discourse on complex topics through the National Museum of American History’s National Youth Summit. Additionally, “Youth 250: Telling Gen Z’s Story at the 250th” features a panel from Made By Us’ Youth250 Bureau that shares what their generation thinks and feels at the moment of the US 250th, what they wish educators knew and what they wish they had learned in school.
- To simulate historical scenarios: George Washington’s Mount Vernon will feature its suite of digital learning resources, including a first-person interactive experience that puts learners in the shoes of George Washington as a leader faced with challenging decisions.
Free registration is open
The summit will feature keynote speakers and collaborators across education and innovation fields, from the American Historical Society, Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center and Johnson & Johnson to the Hockaday School and the YURI Education Project. (See all speakers.)
Registration is free and open for all educators.
After the Summit, the Smithsonian will curate additional online resources that can be used throughout the school year to prepare educators for the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
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