20 FREE Resources for Teaching & Learning

Below are titles, descriptions, & sponsoring agencies of the new resources.

Arts

“Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century” offers 14 in-depth studies of works by various artists represented in the National Gallery of Art. The studies include information on the artist, technique, & history behind each painting. (NGA)

http://www.nga.gov/feature/artnation/splash.htm

“Art Nouveau: 1890-1914” is the largest & most comprehensive

exhibition on one of the most innovative of all modern art styles.

The exhibition looks at places where Art Nouveau flourished &

traces its history. (NGA)

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/nouveauinfo.htm

“Georgia O’Keeffe: A Portrait” explores the two distinct groups of

photographs that Alfred Stieglitz made of Georgia O’Keeffe. For

many years he had wanted to make an extended photographic portrait,

which he called a composite portrait, in which he would study one

person over a long period. With O’Keeffe, he had an ever-present,

willing model, & would make more than 330 finished portraits over

nearly 20 years. (NGA)

http://www.nga.gov/feature/stieglitz/4intro.htm

“Life of the People: Realist Prints & Drawings, 1912-1948” presents

American prints & drawings relating the condition of working

people, American labor & industry, & the experience & achievements

of minority groups. The exhibit features African American artists

& Mexican muralists & is particularly rich in images from the

1930s, when the turmoil & uncertainty of the Depression led

increasing numbers of artists to turn toward socially relevant

subject matter. (LOC)

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/goldstein/

“Omaha Indian Music” offers a sampling of traditional Omaha Indian

music. The sound recordings include wax cylinder recordings made

in the 1890s, as well as songs & spoken-word segments from the 1983

Omaha harvest celebration pow-wow, segments from an interview with

an Omaha elder in 1983, songs & speeches from a performance by

members of the Hethu’shka Society in 1985, & portions of an

interview with an Omaha musician in 1999. Photos, fieldnotes, &

more from the 1983 pow-wow are included. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/omhhtml/omhhome.html

“Small-Portrait Masterpieces” presents small-scale portraits made

in northern Europe between the mid-15th & late 17th centuries. The

small portraits are surprisingly varied, not only in the materials

used, but also in their purposes & functions. (NGA)

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/portraitinfo.htm

Foreign languages

“Meeting of Frontiers: America & Russia” is a bilingual, multimedia

digital library that tells the story of the American exploration &

settlement of the West, the parallel exploration & settlement of

Siberia & the Russian Far East, & the meeting of the Russian-American

frontier in Alaska & the Pacific Northwest. Much of the

primary material has never been published or is rare. The site is

intended to demonstrate the educational & cultural potential of

international cooperation in the development of digital libraries.

(LOC)

http://frontiers.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfsplash.html

Language arts

“Language of the Land: Journeys Into Literary America” examines the

“sense of place” evoked by landscapes described in the works of

Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, John Steinbeck, & other

American writers. Literary passages are accompanied by maps &

photos, & they are organized by region — the Northeast, South,

Midwest, & West. (LOC)

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/land/

“The Wizard of Oz” explores the publishing history, stage & film

adaptations, & famous artifacts of one of America’s greatest &

best-loved homegrown fairytales. Visitors can view L. Frank Baum’s

100-year-old copyright application & title page deposit, the

original Cowardly Lion wig & mane, & more. (LOC)

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/oz/

Math

“AlgebraTutor” is a place where students can get help learning how

to write algebra expressions for word problems. (NSF)

http://www.algebratutor.org/

Social studies

“American Memory Timeline” helps teachers & students navigate the

vast online collections of primary source materials at the Library

of Congress. The links, arranged by chronological period, lead to

sets of selected primary sources on a variety of topics in U.S.

history. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/timeline/index.html

“Bob Hope & American Variety” looks at Hope’s life as a vaudeville

actor, comic monologist, dancer, singer, sketch comedian, & master

of ceremonies. The site showcases Bob Hope memorabilia & offers a

list of public programs at the Library. (LOC)

http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/bobhope/

“Elections… the American Way” looks at political campaigns by

exploring the history & roles of candidates & voters, the structure

of the party system & election process, & tough issues that

politicians have faced over the years. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/features/election/home.html

“Living History Project” is a place where students can learn about

the oral history interview process. The site includes examples of

how to conduct interviews with people in the community & collect &

analyze their life histories. The site links to life histories

that were written for the U.S. Works Progress Administration (WPA)

from 1936-1940. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson97/florida/home.html

“Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: 1831-1929” portrays the

early history of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico through first-person

accounts, political writings, & histories drawn from the

Library of Congress’s general collections. Among the topics it

highlights are the land & its resources, relations with Spain,

competition among political parties, reform efforts, &

recollections by veterans of the Spanish-American War. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/prhtml/prhome.html

“Small-Town America, 1850-1920” presents 12,000 photographs of New

York, New Jersey, & Connecticut from the 1850s to the 1910s from a

collection at the New York Public Library. The views show natural

landscapes as well as buildings & street scenes in cities, towns, &

villages. They also depict agriculture, industry, transportation,

homes, businesses, local celebrations, natural disasters, people, &

costumes. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/nyplhtml/dennhome.html

“Tending the Commons: Folklife & Landscape in Southern West

Virginia, 1992-1999” features original sound recordings &

photographs centered around hunting, gathering, & subsistence

gardening in the mountains in Southern West Virginia’s Big Coal

River Valley. Interpretive texts & interviews outline the social,

historical, economic, environmental, & cultural contexts of

community life, & a series of maps & a diagram depict community

activities. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cmnshtml/cmnshome.html

“When Work is Done” is a lesson plan that uses photographs as

primary sources & that can help students develop historical

analysis skills. After completing the introductory lesson using

photographs as primary sources, students compile their own albums

based on a thesis statement about life in the 20th century. (LOC)

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lesson98/album/teachers.html

Science

“The Bridge” is a place where teachers can find marine science

education resources that are screened by science educators &

research scientists. The site features “Scuttlebutt,” a discussion

list, & tells about the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB), a

fast-paced academic competition for high school students. (NOAA)

http://www.vims.edu/bridge/

“The Global Volcanism Program (GVP)” seeks to promote understanding

of all volcanoes through documenting their eruptions during the

past 10,000 years. Visitors can review volcanic activity reports,

view data files containing geographic & geologic information for

all Holocene volcanoes (those with known activity during the last

10,000 years), & order research & publications by Smithsonian

volcanologists & their colleagues. (SI,NMNH)

http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/index.htm

Acronyms

LOC — Library of Congress

NGA — National Gallery of Art

NOAA — National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

NSF — National Science Foundation

SI,NMNH — National Museum of Nature History

Past EDInfo messages: http://www.ed.gov/MailingLists/EDInfo/

Search: http://www.ed.gov/MailingLists/EDInfo/search.html

Past ED Initiatives: http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EDInitiatives/

Editors: Peter Kickbush, Tracy Sisser, & Kirk Winters

Contributors: Karen Billett, George Bond, Kurt Byers, & Phyllis Hecht

Please send any comments to kirk_winters@ed.gov