Students & Education

National History Day Kick-Off

Jump-start your student's participation in National History Day. A Special Collections Librarian and experienced National History Day Judge - will join your class and lead students through a lesson plan that introduces National History Day and explores this year's prompt.

By the end of the experience, students will understand the purpose of National History Day research projects, be able to explain the prompt, and have brainstormed three research topics that they could use as a foundation for a National History Day project.

This experience combines lectures and small group activities. 

Format: Online or In-Person at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO. 

Researching History

There are millions of sources available online and in person. How should students get started? What are they looking for, how will they know what they're looking at?

Join a special collections librarian for a live overview of researching materials online. This soup-to-nuts overview starts with formatting a research question and covers identifying and assessing primary and secondary sources. By combining lecturettes with small group working sessions, students will learn hands-on where to find materials and how to evaluate those materials. 

This session is particularly useful for student groups starting research projects and can be tailored to specific project and source materials. Some typically useful primary source collections are the Internet Archive, the Chronicling America Project at the Library of Congress, and the Missouri Valley Room's own KCHistory.org.

Format: Online or In-Person at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO.

Introducing: The Archive!

Archives are here for students, researchers, and the public. But there's often a disconnect between our efforts to offer materials and student perceptions and awareness of the archives. 

In this introductory experience, staff from the Missouri Valley Room will guide you through a lesson on archives and how to use them.

Staff will introduce the concept of an archive in a brief lecturette, then lead students through a series of small group activities to practice searching and accessing archives to find primary source documents.

Format: Online or In-Person at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO. 

Customizable Historian Visit

Have an idea for a lesson plan or collaboration that isn't listed here? Contact us with a project idea and desired learning outcomes. We'll brainstorm activities and assessments and come up with a change of pace experience for your class.

Format: Online or In-Person in your classroom or event space.