Solve and create American history and civics challenges to explore Library of Congress primary sources—and look closer.
Eagle Eye Citizen is a freely available resource designed to help middle and high school students think critically about civic participation, Congress, and American history using primary sources from the Library of Congress.
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.
