Gettysburg Distance Learning Broadcast 2004: Program Overview

Gettysburg The Soldiers' Battle, 2004 Broadcast

Scheduled broadcast date: May 20, 2004

Broadcast 2004 Overview

(National Park Service)

May 20, 2004, Gettysburg National Military Park broadcast a student educational program from the Gettysburg battlefield. This year's broadcast was a repeat of the year 2000 show, for which we received the prestigious "Telly Award" for excellence in children's programming. The purpose of this broadcast was to bring the battlefield to students in classrooms around the country who are unable to physically visit the field, as well as to offer a meaningful program for students who will be visiting. The theme of the program focused on the human element of the battle by following the stories of selected soldiers in either of the two armies that fought the Battle of Gettysburg. The goal of the broadcast ws to provide students with an understanding of who these young Americans were that served during the Civil War, how they lived and fought, what they fought with, and what a battle such as Gettysburg cost them and this nation.

These broadcast pages help set the stage and provide context, the core being thirty six biographies and photographs of different Union and Confederate soldiers who actually participated in the Battle of Gettysburg. Teachers can assign one of these men to each student, who will then follow the soldier through the entire month-long Gettysburg Campaign up to the Battle of Gettysburg. The webpage will also include sections on: what was happening elsewhere in the country during the Gettysburg Campaign; soldier life; a "Quiz for the Day" (where students will be asked historical questions to test their geography, math and history skills); and what is going on in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the eventual meeting ground of the two armies. Students can trace where their soldier has moved on a map of northern Virginia, Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. They will also read excerpts from letters, diaries and journals of soldiers who describe the grueling campaign as it was happening. Examples: What was it like to march 30 miles in one day, carrying 30 to 50 pounds of equipment? What did the soldiers think they were fighting for? What did they think about fighting in a battle everyone knew would happen soon?

(National Park Service)

On May 20th we traveled back in time to July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Students were introduced to two soldiers- one Union and one Confederate, who were representative of the 170,000 men who fought at Gettysburg. They will not only heard these soldiers' stories, they visited the very place they fought, some of the most historic and hallowed ground in American history. Following the broadcast, there was a final update to the webpage for students to learn what happened to the soldier they followed through the Gettysburg Campaign, offering them some sense of the anxiety families felt as they waited at home for news of their fate.

This was an exciting opportunity for students and schools who cannot visit Gettysburg to take a field trip to the battlefield park without leaving the classroom. This program was free of charge.

If you are a teacher or educator and are interested in receiving a tape of the broadcast for your classroom, contact Barbara Sanders, park Education Co-ordinator, at (717) 334-1124, extension 420.

National Park Service
Gettysburg National Military Park
97 Taneytown Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325