Discover how to use museum resources and methods to bring new excitement into your classroom. Many Smithsonian museums offer scheduled classes for educators as well as customized training.
Social Studies
Air Mail to Airlines
The activities in this National Air and Space Museum workshop help to build mapping and sequencing skills. Designed for teachers of grades 3–5. Call 202.633.2540.
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America's Presidents: Professional Development at the National Portrait Gallery
Three annual workshops focus on the exhibition America’s Presidents.
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Black Wings: African American in Aviation, 1920 to the Present
Discuss events of World War II with experts and receive language arts as well as history lessons. This National Air and Space Museum workshop is for teachers of grades 6–10. Call 202.633.2540.
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Discovering Community
This weeklong for-credit workshop at the Anacostia Museum focuses on using community history to build reading and language arts skills. Call 202.633.4849.
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East of the River: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Learn the early history of the Anacostia community at the Anacostia Museum exhibition East of the River: Continuity and Change. Participants create “primary-source text sets” for the classroom. Call 202.633.4849.
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George Catlin's Indian Gallery
Examine hundreds of Catlin's portraits, landscapes, and scenes of American Indian life. This Smithsonian American Art Museum workshop is for K–12 teachers.
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Looking the Write Way: Reading Art as a Catalyst for Writing
Help your students make connections between visual and written expression in this Smithsonian American Art Museum workshop. The strategy has proven effective for all types of learners, including English Second Language and Learning Disabled. Write to SaamEdStaff@si.edu.
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Return to a Native Place
Explore the lives of Native people of the Chesapeake region alongside tribal leaders in this National Museum of the American Indian workshop.
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Teaching with Primary Sources
Delve into National Air and Space Museum documents, photographs, objects, and oral histories to help your students understand the historical process. Designed for teachers of grades 4–12. Call 202.633.2540.
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Art
Always Becoming—Sculpture Project
Join Pueblo artist Nora Naranjo-Morse as she demonstrates the connections between clay working and ideas of home in this National Museum of the American Indian workshop.
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A City of Neighborhoods
Work alongside architects in a popular workshop created by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. Call 212.849.8380.
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Smithsonian Art Museums Back-to-School Night
On August 30, 2007, come to any of six museums—the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of African Art, the Freer-Sackler Galleries, or the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden—for an evening of free workshops and classroom materials, tours, and performances. All educators are welcome. No registration is required. The event will be held from approximately 4:30 pm to approximately 8 pm. Write to SaamEdStaff@si.edu
Summer Design Institute
Join renowned designers at the Cooper-Hewitt in New York City as they share strategies for engaging K–12 students in the design process. The annual institute includes workshops, master classes, and studio visits. Call 212.849.8380.
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Science
Explore the Universe
Investigate changing views of the universe, as well as student misconceptions of cosmology. This National Air and Space Museum workshop is for teachers of grades 5–8 or 9–12. Call 202.633.2540.
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Exploring the Planets
Study the tools of planetary research and analyze the images and data they provide. This National Air and Space Museum workshop is for teachers of grades 3–5 or 6–9. Call 202.633.2540.
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Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Programs
The center, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, combines the research facilities of the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory to study the physical processes that determine the nature and evolution of the universe. It offers K-12 professional development programs and resources developed by its Science Education Department. In association with the Annenberg Channel, it offers broadcast-related workshops.
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How Things Fly
Explore the interactive devices in the National Air and Space Museum’s How Things Fly gallery, study aircraft in the museum that illustrate the technology of flight, and learn to address these topics in the classroom. Designed for teachers of grades 6–10. Call 202.633.2540.
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National Science Resources Center Programs
Inquiry-based sessions, tailored to meet each teacher's needs, draw conceptual connections between science disciplines. Call 202.633.2970. The Center’s “Science Program Reform” helps school districts implement an inquiry-based program. Call 202.287.7245 or 202.633.2971.
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National Zoo Programs
The Zoo and its Conservation Research Center offer many training programs in which teachers work alongside scientists. Sessions include "Basic Tree Identification" and "Read and Write with Wildlife." Call 202.673.4955.
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Learn more about training manuals
Naturalist Center
The Loudoun County, Virginia, facility of the National Museum of Natural History has a collection of 36,000 specimens for the study of life sciences, earth sciences, and even art and history. Call 800.729.7725 to arrange for teacher-training or school-group programs.
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Problem Solving with the Wright Brothers
Engage in the process of invention alongside the two bicycle builders from Dayton. Hands-on activities demonstrate the workings of wings and propellers and introduce the physics of flight. This National Air and Space Museum workshop is designed for teacher of grades 3–8. Call 202.633.2540.
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Reflections on Earth: Remote Sensing to Monitor the Environment
Use remote sensing technology to study volcanoes, dunes, and floods. All participants receive field-tested lessons and resources for obtaining satellite images. This National Air and Space Museum workshop is designed for teachers of grades 9–12. Call 202.633.2540
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Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Located on Chesapeake Bay, the center works with D.C.-area school systems. The sessions explore the ecosystem of the bay and its watershed.
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Learn more about internships and fellowships
Smithsonian Science Education Academies for Teachers
The National Science Resources Center is offering four academies in July and August 2007: Energy and Motion, Biodiversity, Ecological Field Studies, and Electricity and Magnetism. Most sessions are held at Smithsonian museums and research centers and at other museums and laboratories in or near Washington, D.C.
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Watershed Academy: From the Mountains to Metropolis
Join the Capital Region Earth Force and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Front Royal, Virginia, for a four-day residential program exploring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The course is designed for teachers of grades 6-12, but all educators are welcome. Call 202.673.4955.
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Check these sites for additional programs.
Scholars in the Schools
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Smithsonian Institution Event Calendar
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The Smithsonian Associates
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