What you will learn
- Gain expertise from educators from multiple Smithsonian museums through recorded video sessions.
- Reflect and share ideas with a community of educators via discussion forums.
- Explore inquiry-based strategies for integrating museum objects and works of art into your teaching, whether in the classroom or online.
- Learn to use the Smithsonian Learning Lab to curate digital resource collections and share lesson ideas.
Educators, discover how museum objects and inquiry-based strategies can enhance your students’ learning across the curriculum! Enroll in this three-course series led by museum educators from across the Smithsonian Institution and gain new teaching tools you can immediately put to use in your classroom. Learn to use Harvard Project Zero thinking routines with museum objects to cultivate critical thinking, and practice curating digital resource collections using the Smithsonian Learning Lab.
Teachers of all subjects and grades are welcome to register in these courses. The program content will be most readily applicable to humanities teachers.
Courses in this program
SmithsonianX's The Smithsonian Summer Sessions: Teaching with Museum Objects Professional Certificate
- 1–2 hours per week, for 14 weeks
Educators from four Smithsonian museums will explore connections among their collections and model teaching strategies that participants can implement with their students, whether online or in the classroom.
- 1–2 hours per week, for 14 weeks
Educators from six Smithsonian museums will dive deeply into the objects in their collections to interrogate the stories we know and tell our students. They will explore connections among their collections and model teaching strategies that participants can implement with their students.
- 1–2 hours per week, for 14 weeks
Discover how museum objects can help learners explore the challenges and opportunities of living in a democracy and inspire civic action.
- Career prospects for people with similar training include: K-12 Arts Integration Specialist, K-12 Social studies teacher, K-12 English/language arts teacher, K-12 Arts teacher, K-12 Instructional Coach, K-12 Librarian, K-12 Technology Coordinator.
- Teaching skills developed: inquiry-based teaching methods including Project Zero thinking routines; teaching with primary sources; arts integration; civic education.
- Technical skills developed: using the Smithsonian Learning Lab to curate digital museum resource collections.
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