This post is by Michael Apfeldorf of the Library of Congress.
Join the Library of Congress this March 20-23 in Denver, Colorado at the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) conference, where Library staff will offer two workshops in which participants can learn how to access millions of free digitized primary sources related to STEM topics and practice hands-on, inquiry-based strategies for using them with students.
- In What Does This Source Say About Science? Using Historical Primary Sources at the Library of Congress to Challenge Misconceptions about the Nature of Science, you will learn how historical primary sources can be paired with guided questions and analysis to challenge misconceptions about the nature of science (March 22 @ 9:20 am; Bluebird Ballroom 3A).
- In Exploring Practices, Nature of Science, and Science in Society: Analyzing Historical Primary Sources from the Library of Congress, you will practice strategies for promoting critical thinking skills, while also helping students develop a deeper understanding of real-world scientific practices, the nature of science, and connections between science and society (March 22 @ 2:40 pm; Bluebird Ballroom 3B).
Whether or not you attend the conference, we hope that you will explore the Library’s online collections and teacher resources. Here are a few things you can do if you are interested in STEM-related items.
- Browse our ready-made primary source sets, each of which includes a curated list of primary sources and related teacher resources. Some topics include:
- Charts and Graphs
- Ecology
- Inventions and Innovations
- The Inventive Wright Brothers
- Natural Disasters
- Scientific Data: Observing, Recording, and Communicating Information
- Transportation
- Understanding the Cosmos: Changing Models of the Solar System and the Universe
- Weather Forecasting
- Women in Science and Technology
- Check out our Free to Use and Reuse set on Scientists and Inventors, which includes a wide variety of prints and photographs of American scientists and inventors through history. This set can encourage discussion about the diversity of scientists and their methods, as well as the socio-political nature of science.
- Explore the Teaching with the Library blog for additional primary source suggestions and teaching strategies. When searching the blog, note that you can focus your explorations on STEM-related posts.
- Delve into the Library’s collections, including the papers of Alexander Graham Bell, Carl Sagan, and Samuel Morse, as well as the early work of Emile Berliner and Thomas Edison.
Also, for your reference and ease of sharing, download these handouts summarizing some of the ways primary sources may be used by science educators:
- Primary Sources in the Science Classroom: Nature of Science
- Primary Sources in the Science Classroom: Cross Cutting Concepts and Phenomena
We encourage you to examine these primary source collections and teaching materials further or join us for a workshop at NSTA. Please take a moment to leave a comment letting us know what you discover!
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