National Archives DocsTeach

Engage in activities that will help you make sense of stories, events, and ideas of the past using documents from the holdings of the US National Archives. Choose an historical topic and challenge yourself with an activity. Or, find activities in a classroom set up just for you, using the code provided to you from the DocsTeach.org web site.
DocsTeach.org is an online tool for teaching with documents from the National Archives. On the web site, you will discover thousands of primary sources and learning activities. When registered for a free account, teachers can borrow from and modify an ever-expanding collection of activities, plus create unique ones using the online tools. Log in and create classrooms full of activities, then share the classroom’s auto generated code with your students to access on their iPads.

Features:

• Choose a historical era or topic to find an activity based on primary source documents such as the US Constitution, the canceled check for the purchase of Alaska, and Thomas Edison’s patent drawing for the light bulb.

• Participate in DocsTeach activities made with the Focusing on Details, Making Connections, Finding a Sequence, Mapping History, Weighing the Evidence, or Seeing the Big Picture tools.

• Tap and drag document icons to move them within activities.

• Tap to view documents. Zoom and inspect individual pages of documents using the controls in the document viewing window.

• Students: Find activities specifically assigned by your teacher using your classroom code.

• Teachers: Share the unique code from your DocsTeach.org classroom with your students so they can find and complete just the activities you have chosen or prepared for them.

A WiFi connection is recommended for this application.

The DocsTeach web site can be found at www.docsteach.org. DocsTeach was created in partnership with the Foundation for the National Archives. Designed and developed by Second Story Interactive Studios.