An interactive learning tool using primary sources to explore how our government works. Help students understand separation of powers, voting rights, federal budget, state’s rights, and more.
An interactive learning tool using primary sources to explore how our government works. Help students understand separation of powers, voting rights, federal budget, state’s rights, and more.
Engaging Congress teaches students the key concepts of representative government and citizenship. In each module, students focus on different civics concepts by analyzing a variety of primary sources. Each component of this learning tool, primary sources, content videos, mini-games, can be used on its own or as a part of a thematic module. The variety of primary sources (maps, charts, photos, documents) can be adjusted to meet the needs of all learners. Use Engaging Congress for in-person, hybrid, or remote learning. Students can play individually or in groups. Help prepare your students to be engaged and informed citizens.
Topics
Documents
Images
Video
African American History
America at War
Citizenship
Civics & Government
Civil Rights
Economics
Founding Documents
Human Enslavement
Journalism
Voting & Suffrage
Women in History
Alignments
NCSS Standards
C3 Framework
State and Common Core standards information at engagingcongress.org
Journalism in Action is an interactive learning tool exploring the history of journalism in society using historical primary sources.
Journalism in Action is an interactive learning tool exploring the history of journalism in society using historical primary sources. Journalism in Action was designed to help middle and high school students examine the role of a free press in different moments in United States history.
Through fun, interactive activities, students inquire, ask questions, and make their own judgments using news articles, broadcast segments, political cartoons, and photographs curated from the databases of the Library of Congress.
Topics
Documents
Images
Video
America at War
Citizenship
Civics & Government
Civil Rights
First Freedoms
Journalism
Labor & Work
Women in History
Alignments
C3 Framework
Common Core ELA History
Social Study Standards
ISTE Standards
Learning Objectives
Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source
Provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions
Evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources
Communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.
Teacher Experience
Explore the history of journalism in the U.S. through Library of Congress primary documents.
Employ interactive features such as historical journal annotation, magnifying tools, and turning historical documents and images into social media posts.
Make an account for students to track answers, or use without an account.
Use all or part of our ten historical case studies, which cover topics from the Revolutionary War to Immigration to Watergate.
Student Experience
Explore the history of journalism in the United States!
Learn the ways the goals and techniques of journalists have changed over the centuries.
Use fun, interactive features including making your own social media posts based on historical records.
Imagine how journalists of the past would cover the controversies of today.
KidCitizen offers a growing set of interactive episodes that engage K–5 students with primary source photographs to explore Congress & Civic Engagement.
KidCitizen offers a growing set of interactive episodes that engage K–5 students with primary source photographs to explore Congress & Civic Engagement.
Each KidCitizen episode focuses on one or more related photographs from the Library of Congress, with topics ranging from Community Helpers to how Congress works.
The episodes capitalize on the active and social nature of young children’s learning, using primary sources for rich demonstrations, interactions, and models of literacy. The hands-on activities make academic content meaningful, build on prior experiences, and foster visual literacy and historical inquiry.
Teachers can also create and share their own episodes using the KidCitizen Editor.
Analyze and collect evidence from primary sources.
Engage in primary source inquiry, using critical literacy skills to address challenging topics.
Teacher Experience
Choose from 9 episodes that focus on historical thinking and inquiry-based learning with primary sources.
Easily access episodes from kidcitizen.org on any device.
Introduce the initial episode as part of whole class or small group guided instruction, then allow for independent revisits.
Find implementation ideas as well as suggested children's literature to support cross-curricular connections in the teacher’s guide that accompanies each episode.
Create your own episodes with the cloud-based KidCitizen Editor and share them with students.
Student Experience
Use visible thinking strategies to progress through phases of careful observation, analysis, drawing conclusions based on collected evidence, and reflection that propels the students into further inquiry.
Engage in incremental learning and authentic interaction with a primary source.
Build conceptual knowledge and develop increasingly complex historical-thinking skills
Receive guided mentorship from in-game character, Ella, who assists children in interpreting the past and simulates the collaborative conditions that optimize students’ construction of knowledge and meaning.
