curriculum & instruction
Swan Teaches Smithsonian Course
A new, free online course offered by the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of American
History will be co-taught by Dr. Kathy
Swan, associate professor at the University of
Kentucky College of Education.
“Teaching Historical Inquiry with Objects”
will offer teachers accessible strategies and
tactics for incorporating inquiry-based learning
methods into their existing history lessons.
The course will demonstrate how teachers
can help students to see history as a living,
breathing record of the past; motivate students
to ask probing questions and seek complex
answers; and bridge students’ historical
knowledge with a lifelong commitment to
civic action.
The course brings together the new College,
Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for
Social Studies with the Smithsonian’s handson, museum-based educational techniques that
bring historical artifacts to life for millions of
visitors each year.
Through explanation, demonstration, and dynamic
examples, the course offers teachers practical ideas for how
to entice students to craft complex and incisive questions;
think critically about primary and secondary historical
sources; form and support their opinions with evidence; and
communicate their conclusions in ways that will prepare
them to be engaged citizens of the world. Demonstrations
will feature the Smithsonian National Museum of American
History’s exhibitions and vast collection of historical artifacts
and will offer ideas and resources to help teachers everywhere
incorporate object- and inquiry-based teaching techniques and
Smithsonian online resources into their own classrooms.
A free online version of College, Career, and Civic Life (C3)
Framework for Social Studies State Standards will be available
online for registered students of this course.
Course Instructors
Kathleen Owings Swan, Ph.D, University of Kentucky
College of Education
Dr. Kathy Swan is an associate professor of curriculum and
instruction and the Director of Next Generation Teacher
Preparation at the University of Kentucky. Her research
focuses on standards-based technology integration, authentic
intellectual work, and documentary-making in the social
studies classroom. Swan has been a four-time recipient of
the National Technology Leadership Award in Social Studies
Education, innovating with web-based interactive technology
curricula including the Historical Scene Investigation Project,
the Digital Directors Guild, and Digital Docs in a Box. Her
co-authored book And Action! Doing Documentaries
COE COMMUNICATOR | SEPTEMBER 2014
Dr. Kathy Swan, College of Education
in the Social Studies
Course Dates & Requirements
Classroom and children’s
October 7 – November 19, 2014;
series Thinking Like A
time commitment: 3-4 hours per
Citizen were published in
week
fall 2013.
To register, create a profile on
edX then visit the course page page
Naomi Coquillon,
to register.
National Museum of
American History,
Prerequisites
Smithsonian
This course is designed for
Naomi is the Manager
Secondary School Social Studies
of e