DocsTeach will include a lesson template that math and/or science teachers can use to create lessons.  The National Archives has many, many records containing data - charts, tables, graphs, etc.  Here are just a couple of examples.

What tools will math/science teachers need inside the lesson template to be able to create engaging math/science data-analysis activities for their students with documents such as these?

Document Including Grain Production Statistics from the Federal Reserve

Document Showing the Frequency of UFO Sightings from Project Blue Book

As mentioned in previous posts, DocsTeach will feature several lesson templates that educators may use to create new lessons or modify existing ones.  “Composite History” is one type of lesson template.  In “Composite History” teachers select one primary source photograph/document that shows an event that can be considered a culmination of several historical events. The teacher creating the lesson will then select pairs of similar or complementary events that helped make the main image possible. When a teacher uses this activity with students, the students are presented with the main image in a grid and are challenged to flip over the squares of the grid to find the historical documents that contributed to the main image/event. A close examination of the hidden documents is required to understand their importance and determine which other documents they are most likely paired with. Once all of the images have been matched, a new image or phrase can be revealed.

Image of Composite History Culminating Event Screen

Up to this point, we’ve repeatedly referred to “the new web site we’re building.”  Thanks to your ideas and lots of internal brainstorming, we can now call this site by its new name: “DocsTeach.”  It will feature:

• the ability to use thousands of National Archives documents, not just those on exhibit but many more from our online catalog
• lessons that connect to National History Standards, including Historical Thinking Skills as well as Historical Eras
• lessons suited to both classroom instruction and individual student assignments
• easily customizable templates that add an interactive component to any lesson
• the potential for teachers to share and collaborate with each other and grow an online community